In Between
by Low Candela
Summary: In his many years of adventuring throughout the lands of Ooo, Finn has seen all manner of strange and wondrous things, and fought against some of the greatest threats the world has ever faced; but now a new foe threatens not only his world but another. Now Finn must unlock the secrets of the multiverse with the help of a young girl from a universe that acutely parallels his own.
1. Not a Good Start

**Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Yes I, Low Candela, have returned with an entirely new story; one spanning not only the entirety of Ooo, but worlds beyond. For those familiar with my previous writings, note this this will not be in a similar vain. Rather, with this tale I've aimed to create a more... conventional tale of adventure. Despite that, I dearly hope you all find my musings to be of the caliber you've come to expect of me. Updates may be... less than frequent, I make no promises, but rest assured that I fully intend to see this through to the very end. And now, I'm very excited to invite you all into my new world, which I have titled "In Between." And now, let us start the story.**

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Chapter 1: Not a Good Start

* * *

"Jake, will you stop moving around so much! You're gonna get us caught and this isn't the kind of trespassing where they just ask you to leave!" Finn glowered at his brother through the darkness as he whispered harshly his disapproval. "Hey, you know fully well that I have difficulties staying still for such a long time." The yellow dog challenged his brother, but still managed to cease his irritable fidgeting. "Well something tells me you won't have much a problem keeping quiet after these guys find and kill us! So either chill out already or make sure your will's up to date." After his final remark, Finn turned his attention back away from the dog. "Well someone definitely needs to chill, but it sure isn't me." Jake muttered under his breath.

Finn of course still heard but chose to ignore it, instead opting to focus his attention on the situation developing before them. Peering over the pile of crates they had been hiding behind, he peered down from his perch on the balcony over the floor below. The four figures that had previously entered the warehouse still stood grouped together, talking amongst themselves, clearly bored. They spoke low and calmly enough that Finn couldn't really make anything out, but it was evident from the mood that what he was really waiting for had yet to transpire. In the brief respite from his brother's ceaseless interruptions, he thought back to the discussion he had had earlier with Princess Bubblegum…

* * *

"… 's of vital importance that you carry out this task as swiftly and as delicately as you possibly… Finn are you even listening?!" Bubblegum cut herself off upon catching Finn, mouth agape and staring at a moth that had entered the room. "Uh huh… uh huh…" He robotically replied. It was evident he had not, in fact, heard anything she had just said. A look of indignation crossed the Princess' face and she let out an annoyed grunt. Taking her extendable pointer in both hands, she bent it near to snapping point, but strayed just shy of breaking the item in half. Instead, she crossed the few steps over to Finn and brought the whip thin metal rod down on the back of his hand. "YOWCH! Uh, uhhh, twelve times fourteen is a hundred-nine!"

At his outburst, the Princess could only pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh. "Finn… first of all, this isn't math class. Secondly, that's not even the right answer to the problem that I didn't ask. And third, I really need you to pay attention, this is serious!" Shocked from his reverie, Finn had little choice but to now give the Princess his undivided attention. "Sure, uh, sorry PB. I'm all ears now."

Bubblegum gave him a weary look, but nevertheless continued on. "Ok, here's the short version. My intel guys caught wind of some sort of shady deal going on where some item of significant, but as of yet unidentified, importance is the point of interest. I want you to find these people, identify the item in question, and arrest them and retrieve the item." Finn flashed her a smile and nodded energetically. "All right, bust the bad guys and grab the loot. Easy"

_'__Cocky as ever. Well, I guess that's always been for the best with Finn.' _At his acceptance of her request, she revealed a grateful smile of her own. "Wunderbar. Here," She handed him an open envelope. "The meeting is supposed to take place in a warehouse right here in the Candy Kingdom. These are all the details we have so far." Finn grabbed the paper and quickly tucked it away. "You can count on me Princess." Thinking their business concluded, Finn turned around towards the exit. As he made his way through the door though, the Princess rushed after him, calling out from the door. "Finn…" Stopping in his tracks, he turned back on his heel. "…Just be careful. There's just been… something bothering me lately. So don't just go barging in head first." He pondered her for just a moment before giving her a parting smile and shrugging her off.

* * *

Suddenly an odd noise brought him back to the present. His eyebrows furled as he tried to identify the source, a sort of odd, wet, grinding sound. "What the … Dude! Are you eating?!" Finn zipped around to find Jake chewing away at something. Jake simply looked back like it was the plainest thing ever. "Uhh, yeah man. It's a stakeout, so I've gotta eat steak." Continuing on as if nothing were wrong, Jake carved away another piece of meat and shoveled it into his mouth. Finn could only look on incredulously. "Y… You…"

But before he could erupt in anger, the sound of a door opening quelled his temper, and forced his attention back to the warehouse floor. Finn could only gesture his finger menacingly at Jake before he had to look back over the crates. The side entrance had just been opened, letting more light in and helping to better illuminate the still rather dark building. Two more figures entered Finn's field of vision. They stood in the entrance for several tense seconds. The four figures inside the building had stopped their chatter and were all staring down the newcomers. Eventually the two began to make their way towards the other four. By this point even Jake couldn't help but enter his serious state and had joined Finn in his survey of the scene.

The four figures at the bottom seemed tense, as did one of the new arrivals, but the lost seemed oddly calm. As the six apparently began to converse, each one began to relax almost imperceptibly. Unfortunately for the two heroes, their position, while a great look-out-point, made it quite difficult for them to eavesdrop. "Uhgg, I can't hear dip. What about you, can you make anything out?" Finn asked his companion. "Not really. A few words, but I can't really piece the conversation together." The dog whispered back. Finn glanced in irritation at the dog yet again. "Seriously dude? Aren't your ears supposed to be, like, a thousand times better than mine?" Jake shook his head. "Nah man. You're thinking of my sense of smell. Anyways, does it really even matter? I mean, we're just gonna beat 'em all anyway, right?" Finn looked back down to the floor. The six continued to talk, but little else was happening. "Not until we know that these guys have the thing that we need."

Jake scratched the back of his head. "Speaking of which, what exactly are we going through all this trouble for again?" Finn didn't even turn as he replied. "All the info that Bubblegum had is in my pack." Jake glanced at the Green pack that rested on Finn's back. It was larger than the one he had had when they first began their adventures, a necessity as their journeys became more dangerous and, consequently, required more equipment. He did notice a small white slip sticking out from the front most pocket. Delicately sliding it out, he unfolded the paper.

Holding it a certain angle provided just enough light for Jake to read the contents. _'Ok, let's see here. 'From the office of Princess Bubblegum' blah blah blah, 'rogue elements in possession of' blah blah blah, 'may possibly be linked to the occult' blah blah blah, 'object could only be identified as some sort of medal.' _"Wait a minute." Jake scrutinized the paper. "That's it? That's all she gave us? We're here to bust these guys over some worthless jewelry?" Finn did have to agree with Jake there; it did seem like an awful lot of trouble for something so seemingly inconsequential. "Well, Bubblegum thought it was important enough to ask us to handle, and that's all that really matters."

"And besides that," Finn continued, "There was definitely something more that she wasn't telling me. She just said she had a… bad feeling. So even if this turns out to be nothing it'll at least help her relax." Jake hummed in understanding. He didn't say anything more, but sidled up beside his brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Despite how immaturely he may act, he was always proud of his little brother. At least he knew that, regardless of all other factors, Finn's heart was always in the right place.

Back on the warehouse floor, things seemed to be getting more heated. The whispered voices had been elevated to a dull roar, seemingly in displeasure, and the four original figures gestured in wild and evidently rather upset manners. It was now a little easier for Finn to hear, and though he still couldn't make everything out, he could decipher a few key words, but mostly just expletive-laced statements.

Jake seemed to be having a somewhat easier time reading the language of the situation. The words and phrases he could make out were a bit more relevant to the context of the argument; words like "Cheat", "Gypped", "Price" and so forth. "Well they definitely don't seem happy down there." Finn remarked. "From what I can tell, there having some argument over the price of something." Jake replied. "I guess we at least got the right place then."

After a few more minutes of bickering the elevated tone seemed to die down; the suspect individuals calmed themselves and the warehouse became nearly quiet once again. It seemed a concession of some sort had been reached and Finn guessed the actual transaction would soon take place. Nudging Jake in the side, he told him, "Get ready to flip the switch." His companion responded in the affirmative, "Gotcha."

The group seemed just about ready to conclude their meeting. The dark concealed a lot from Finn, but he was able to clearly make out one of the four original trespassers as he took a fair sized pouch from his satchel. He then reached into the bag and pulled a small object out of it. Whatever it was, it was able to catch enough of the light to glint, Finn guessed it was a coin and the sack was full of similar ones. Apparently satisfied with his counterparts' offer, the man who had come last, and who had remained the calmest throughout the night, pulled something from his own cloak, but Finn couldn't make it out from his angle. He had to assume it was the medal they were after, and that was all the reason they needed to take action.

"Now Jake!" Finn cried out to the Dog. A loud 'thwick' sounded as his brother pulled a lever on the wall behind them. Immediately the whole building was flooded with light, and the two heard several cries of shock from the villains down below. Having been mentally preparing for this moment all night, Finn wasted no time in jumping over the railing on his perch and plummeting to the floor. Normally he'd have no problem making a rough landing like that; unfortunately for him, he failed to take notice of the wooden crate positioned directly below him, so instead of landing on solid ground, his feet hit hollow wood. The box splintered beneath his weight, and the young hero unexpectedly went rocketing backwards towards the floor, landing hard on his back and vacating his chest of air in the process.

As Finn was left gasping on the floor, the six ne'er-do-wells were left wondering what exactly had just happened. They all looked over to where Finn had just crashed, but only stood and watched in bafflement; not even in fear or concern, only in complete confusion. While Finn attempted to reconstitute himself, Jake lowered himself to the ground, much more delicately than the human had. He trotted over to his little brother. "You ok man?" He asked, really more out of politeness than genuine concern; Finn had taken way worse hits than this. "Yeah… I'm cool…" Finn groaned out as he dragged himself to his feet.

The thugs had not grown any less baffled as they watched a child plummet three stories followed by a dog lower himself by his arm like he was made of rubber. "What… What exactly are we supposed to make of all this?" One of them pondered aloud. The one holding the sack of coins responded, "I don't know… Just… Wait and see what they want? I guess." Surprisingly, none of the goons seemed especially worried about the two strangers that had just fallen from the sky, even allowing them to recover while they waited.

Several long seconds passed as Finn begrudgingly lifted his weight up from the ground. Once on his feet, he twisted his torso to both sides and bent himself back slightly, eliciting a few pops from his soon to be much bruised back. He continued on to roll his shoulders and neck a few more times before dusting himself off. With a final snort and a cough, he seemed to be more or less recovered. "All good?" Jake asked once Finn had fully righted himself. "All good." He replied.

Now having reached the point where they had intended to be, the two brothers adopted a much more serious tone. Each turned to the miscreants, arms crossed and in as authoritative a pose as they could manage. The gangsters continued to appear much more confused than intimidated. Finn called out to them, "Ok jerks, by the order of Princess Bubblegum, I'm hereby placing all of you under arrest on several counts of…. Of…." As Finn's train of thought suddenly lost all steam Jake chimed in, "Of carrying out the unlawful sale of illegal items without the proper documentation!" The suspects all remained baffled, and even Finn had to turn to his brother in amazement. "Dang Jake, that was impressively reasoned." Jake flashed his brother a cocky grin, "Hey man, think what you want but I know my legal codes."

By this point the criminals all turned to look at each other, each silently asking if this was just some kind of ridiculous joke. Eventually, one of the original four spoke up. "UghhhhhOk dudes, I don't know who put you up to this but you guys should probably hightail it out of here. We're trying to conduct some pretty serious business here and you're kind of distracting us." Each of the bandits all nodded towards them in agreement.

Now was the heroes turn to look annoyed. Finn threw his arms above his head as he released an agitated grunt while Jake could only put a paw to his face and shake his head. "See man, I told you we should've asked the Princess for uniforms. Or at least a couple of badges or something." Finn very quickly turned to his brother. "As I've told you before, I'm shooting for a symbolic look and to do that we can't be changing our outfits every time we do something heroic!" Jake countered, "But dude, we can't even give anyone a ticket if they don't think we're legit, much less arrest them." To which Finn rationed, "And then that's when we beat them up! Even if we got uniforms or whatever, if we didn't have the fists to back it up they'd be worthless anyway!"

As the two boys bickered, the patience of the thugs began to finally wear thin. The one with the coin pouch, apparently leader of the four buyers, grew a scowl and shouted at the two uninvited guests. "ENOUGH ALREADY!" It certainly worked to grab their attention, as the two immediately stopped fighting and turned to give their full attention to the man. "All right, I think you two have long overstayed your welcome. I don't know if this is supposed to be some kind of a joke or not; but either way, if your two don't leave RIGHT now, things are going to start getting REAL UGLY!"

For the first time Finn and Jake noticed that the light had improved enough to make out some of the men's features. Ironically, the one who had just screamed them down appeared to be some manner of humanoid with a grotesque green face, covered in massive bumps and sores. "Should I go for the obvious insult?" Finn questioned his brother. "I don't even think it's worth it." Jake replied. "So fight then?" Finn asked. "I think fight, yea." Jake shrugged his shoulders.

A smirk crossed each of their lips then. "Take it away, then." Finn let slip to Jake. With no more warning, Jake's shoulder twisted, and his fist grew massive as it rocketed out away from his chest. It collided with the abominable man's face, dead center, with a satisfying 'smack'. The thug was propelled several feet back, landing on the ground and skidding several more before coming to rest, his bag of coins falling beside him and spilling its contents in a rain of metallic 'clinks'. Hard as it was to tell, it was still apparent that already his face had begun to swell already past its original state.

As soon as the room became quiet again, one of the thugs screamed out to the others, "Hey beat the tar out of these guys already!" The remaining bandits, minus the one with the medal, jolted forward in an unorganized frenzy. Two of the original gang went after Finn while the other one and the seller's cohort sprang towards Jake. The two heroes had little choice but to split up and try to take on their respective opponents individually.

As Finn backed away he sized up the combatants. The three remaining buyers had all appeared relatively similar; they were all fairly normal sizes for adults, which is to say still a bit larger than Finn himself, and wore a multitude of leather and cloth articles befitting rogues of their sort. They also all sported hoods, but each appeared to be a fairly standard humanoid with different colored skins.

As they continued to back Finn away from Jake one spoke up. "Hey for what it's worth, we don't feel proud of fighting a kid." The other one immediately chipped in, "Unfortunately for you, that doesn't mean we aren't going to whoop the ever loving crap out of your hide." Finn finally stopped his retreat, and stared down the two assailants. Much to their surprise, yet another grin found its way across his face. "I understand you guys probably won't believe me, but you ARE gonna regret those words."

The two villains shared a brief look of disbelief before rushing forward. The first to reach Finn noticed he was putting his arms up to defend his face, so in lieu of throwing a punch, he speared Finn in the abdomen with his shoulder. For the second time that night, Finn got the wind knocked out of him as his stomach was compressed. The thug didn't stop either, instead lifting Finn slightly up and continuing to carry him back. Two feet backwards, the thug slammed Finn against a large metal shelf. Upon contact, Finn felt the man's shoulder dig into his stomach a second time, and couldn't stifle an agonized cough; he'd effectively had all the air sucked out of him yet again.

While the first thug kept pressed into Finn's gut, the second was hot on his heels. Stopping just behind his friend, the second man reared back his fist before throwing it right at Finn's skull. Even through his addled state, Finn still managed to see the blow coming. He managed to lift his arms up above the man holding him back, and caught the other's hand before it connected. Before the thug could pull back, Finn quickly got a bit of leverage and twisted his hand. A light 'crack' could be heard before the man viciously drew his hand back while crying out in pain. "GAH, MY WRIST!"

As the man shrieked in pain, Finn noticed the pressure keeping him back slacken slightly. The other one was caught completely off guard by his comrade's agonized cry, and couldn't help but let his focus slip. With his bit of leeway, Finn brought his right arm up and slammed his elbow down on the center of the thug's back. The villain released a sharp grunt as his grip totally faltered, and he dropped down to his hands and knees. Intent on keeping his momentum, Finn quickly dropped his arms to grab his downed opponent's shoulders. Lifting him up just ever so slightly, Finn carried his body forward and drove his knee right into his foe's jaw. The force almost lifted the man right off the ground, and he dropped backwards almost immediately, downed and out for the count.

Finn staggered off and away from the remaining thug, needing just a second to catch his breath. His chest was still throbbing, but he saw the other man still clutching his wrist. _'Level playing field now, punk.' _At the sight of his fallen friend, the remaining thug's eyes flushed with anger. Backing away a further few steps from Finn, he felt his back hit up against a metal table. Glancing back, he saw it covered with a multitude of clutter, objects and tools. Keeping his bad hand up against his chest, he reached his other hand back and took hold of a mallet, bringing it back up to brandish towards Finn. _'Or… not so much.' _

Without much of a thought, the thug rushed forward in desperation. He swing the mallet wildly in front of him, forcing Finn onto the defensive. He was constantly being forced back, forced to duck and weave away from the lethal instrument. After a particularly wide arc, Finn saw an opening and kicked the man in the chest, forcing him to take several steps back but not knocking him down. In the short moment he had, Finn searched around frantically. His eyes landed on a large metal wheel of some sort. It was well rusted and looked to almost be like a shield of some sort, but it didn't have any kind of handle or grip. Gripping it by the edges, Finn braced himself for the next attack.

As the bandit came rushing back forward again, he brought his weapon high above his head and brought it down hard. Finn raised his impromptu shield to block the attack. The thick rubber head of the mallet slammed down on the metal plate, reverberating and shocking Finn, who was thrown on his back by the sheer force. Although the metal protected him from the brunt of the attack, it still badly shocked his arms, and the thin metal edges cut open his palms. The plate itself flew away and clattered off somewhere out of reach.

Finn realized he had no time to recover, as the villain was already gearing up to bring down the hammer one last time. Unable to get up, Finn watched as the crazed man brought his weapon up above his head, and swung it down, releasing it and sending it plummeting towards his own head. Just soon enough, Finn managed to roll over to his side. The mallet missed and collided with the concrete ground, instantly losing its energy and becoming inert. As soon as he heard the crash, Finn twisted his legs, entangling them with his assailant's. He jerked his whole lower body and brought the man crashing down to the floor with him.

The poor guy must have landed on his bad wrist, as he let out a terrible wail that certainly couldn't have been caused by a fall from that height. Finn realized that this would be his best chance to neutralize the threat, and attempted to get back onto his knees. Shakily rising into a crouch, he let himself fall forward just enough to come back into contact with the thug. Wrapping his arms around the man's neck, he caught him in a vicious headlock. While he struggled to choke out pained moans, Finn willed them both forward as fast as he could manage. His intention became savagely evident as he rammed the man's cranium into a solid metal post. Weakened as he was already, the second attacker blacked out instantly.

Having defeated his share of the criminal elements, Finn turned his attention to where Jake had wound up, and was less than thrilled with what he saw.

* * *

As Finn moved away to combat his own foes, Jake was likewise gearing up to fight off the gang members. However, unlike his brother Jake had little reason to take these men as a serious threat. After all, while his brother, talented as he was, remained a completely vulnerable individual, he himself possessed nigh unconquerable magic powers. In all truth, Jake could've been cut out to be the greatest hero in Ooo; he was just far, far too lazy and unmotivated to pursue such lofty goals. Yet despite his slacker outlook on life, he was more than happy to use his powers to back up his best buddy.

So while Finn struggled against the two men he'd been matched against, Jake just stood back, casually waiting for his opponents to make a move against him. Unlike the two fighting Finn, Jake's enemies were not prepared to work together. While the one from the original group seemed jittery, either very excited or very fearful, the one associated with the seller seemed far more measured, obviously waiting for the other thug do make the first move.

No one had to wait much longer, as the excitable thug quickly threw himself at Jake. It was very clear the man had zero actual training, just opting to run head first at Jake and hope for the best. It was far too easy for the Dog to just reach his hand out, palming the man's face and halting him right in his tracks. He barely had time to let out a muffled grunt of surprise before Jake's arm started rapidly shooting backwards. Eventually the ride came to an end, and the outlaw's body was crushed against a wall. While Jake retracted his arm the man slumped down to the ground, showing absolutely no signs of recovering any time soon.

Having easily dispatched the first one, Jake turned quite cockily to the last thug. Since he had not been a part of the others' group, he was not wearing the same attire as them. Rather, he himself was sporting an oversized yellow cloak. Jake also noted that he was a fair bit larger than any other person in the room. Even so, he wasn't too worried that this guy would cause him too much trouble.

As this thought crossed his mind, the larger man suddenly threw away his cloak. With his covering removed, Jake's eyes bulged as he realized how much of an understatement it was to simply call him 'big.' No, something along the lines of 'monstrous' or 'behemoth' would be a far better description for the creature standing before the Canine. Yet another humanoid, this one sported a bright red skin-tone, and looked as though he may as well have been carved from stone. He had a massive barrel chest and arms like train engines. His neck was as thick as a tree trunk. Oddly enough, his face was still covered with a strange burlap-looking mask stretched taught over his face.

Jake could hardly call himself terrified, so much as awed. "Dang, dude! Man what gym do you go to?" The hulking figure said nothing to Jake, only raising its' fists to a fighting stance. "All right well what about supplements? Anything? Protein? Creatine? Fish oil? Seriously dude, I gotta get in on your regiment." It began to make its' way closer towards Jake, who could only sigh in disappointment. "All right then. If you're not even gonna try then I guess we'll get right to the nasty part."

Once more enlarging his fist, Jake reared back and began winding his arm around. Once the giant was within five feet, Jake through a tremendous blow towards him. Totally unexpectedly, his fist was caught on the massive palm of the monster. Before the dog could make any move, he was thrown clear over the head of the mammoth man. He let out a garbled scream as he hurtled through the air before eventually crashing against another metal shelf, and tumbling to the ground with a groan. It was a slow struggle to get to his knees. "Errggg, Glob." Glancing up, he noticed the giant already back in a hostile stance and encroaching on him. "This might not be as fun as I thought."

* * *

Finn began running over to where Jake was currently… occupied. "Hey man! Uhh, you handling things okay?" Finn raised an eyebrow as he asked the question. Even so, it was rather obvious that the Dog was in fact NOT in control of the situation, as the giant of a man currently had both hands around Jake's throat and had him well off of the ground. "Gah… ndr… cn…rl" He garbled out through his pinched larynx. "Sure…" The boy said sarcastically. Figuring things would turn out very poorly if he did not act soon, Finn began looking around the immediate vicinity for something that would give him at least a little advantage over the incredibly intimidating threat. An idea started to form as his eyes landed on a length of chain.

Grabbing the chains, Finn positioned himself a few feet behind the monster. _'Throttle my brother, we'll see if you don't like the same treatment.' _He began sprinting towards the giant and leapt up onto his back. Before he had a chance to react, Finn had wrapped the chains around his massive neck and was pulling back hard. The beast let out a disgusting snort in clear discomfort, and instantly dropped Jake, coughing and spurting, to the floor. He threw his arms up and reared his head back trying to get some slack, but Finn kept the chains wrapped tightly around him. He tried to reach back to remove Finn, but his arms were simply too big to allow that flexibility. All he could do was buck and snort, throwing his weight around haphazardly in an attempt to throw Finn off.

And Finn certainly wasn't having an easy time either as he was tossed about on the man's back. Still, he managed to hold onto the chains even as the giant thrashed beneath him. The giant man struggled against him for several minutes before he showed any signs of slowing. Eventually, Finn noticed the man's movements slowing, becoming less erratic. The life was slowly being choked out of him and it wouldn't be long before he succumbed to a lack of oxygen.

Jake was slowly beginning to recover from the violence he had just endured, and was back on his feet, coughing and wheezing. He was up in time to see his brother breaking the giant like a horse, the large man slowly stopping, his arms going desperately to his throat, his whole upper body bending forward, close to blacking out completely. Both heroes thought they had the man dead to rights, when he suddenly summoned one last burst of energy. He quickly lurched backwards, backing away as fast as he could manage. Finn didn't have any time to steel himself before he felt his body crash against a wall. His body was completely shocked from the impact and he couldn't stop himself from releasing his hold on the chains.

As Finn dropped behind him, the monstrous man frantically ripped the chains away from his throat and tossed them away. As Finn lay on his side, clutching his back in pain, the giant turned towards him in total fury. _'Oooohh no, this is not good' _thought Jake as he watched these events transpire. He realized that they'd never take this guy down if they just kept getting knocked down in succession. They'd both need to get at him in order to neutralize him for good. Still, Jake knew he at least had to distract him now before he really hurt Finn.

"HEY, HEY! Family size, over here!" Jake shouted at the giant to try and grab his attention. He was completely ignored, as the man seemed far more preoccupied with Finn at the moment. Grabbing a hefty piece of scrap metal lying beside him, Jake hurled it at the back of the man's neck. The monster barely flinched as he was struck, yet he still couldn't keep from turning his attention to Jake. "Yeah, that's right dummy. Keep your eyes on me."

The giant began to trudge over towards Jake, and he couldn't decide between feeling relieved and terrified. Picking up speed the closer it got, the monster was right on top of Jake when he raised both arms and swung his hands straight down towards him. Jake quickly stretched his body straight up while thinning himself significantly, in so doing coming through the space between the man's arms. As the giant's massive fists shook the ground with their collision, Jake set about incapacitating him as best he could. Stretching and crisscrossing his body, Jake first captured one of the arms before stretching across the large man's back and wrapped up the second as well. Pulling his body as taught as possible served to bend the man's arms back in a pseudo-nelson, effectively keeping them pinned in place.

Even though he had successfully trapped the giant, Jake was still fighting with all his strength to keep him from breaking free. Fortunately, Finn seemed to rapidly be regaining his wits, and was soon enough back to his feet. Spotting his brother, Jake allowed his muscles to relax, disentangling himself from the monster and jumping away mostly unscathed. Now the two brothers were again side by side as the giant man eventually relocated them and readied himself for another confrontation.

As their enemy lumbered towards them Jake spoke up, sounding incredibly worried. "This isn't working dude. Everything we throw at the guy he shrugs off." Panting heavily, Finn's eyes traced up and down the behemoth form. Unfortunately Jake was absolutely right, and the longer he thought on it the more insurmountable an obstacle it seemed. Eyes scanning the room desperately, he began to take much more an interest in their actually setting, the cogs in his head slowly beginning to grind. With a last huff he said back to his brother, "Well… we'll just have to give him something he CAN'T shrug off."

Jake looked at his brother, not quite following what he was suggesting. "You think you can rough him up just a bit more?" Finn asked, still not revealing his actual plan. Still, Jake could tell when Finn was devising something brilliant, so settled to just follow his lead. "What'd you have in mind?" The dog asked. The human shrugged over towards the center of the building. Following his gaze lead to another of the warehouse's massive metal shelves; this one, however, seemed extremely dilapidated, weak, and otherwise hazardous. "Just get him over there and I'll handle the rest." With a nod from his brother, Finn was off into the maze of storage, leaving the Dog to deal with the giant by himself yet again.

He had little warning before the giant came charging towards him. As soon as he was close, the volatile man began taking wild swings at the Dog. Jake, however, had started to grow wise to his opponent's tactics, and did a much better job of stretching and shrinking his body out of harm's way. Once he had a good opening, Jake quickly elongated his body well past the man before bringing himself back to his natural shape, now positioned between the monster and the shelf. He wasted no more time and began running for the spot Finn needed him in, the massive man barging after him.

Having gained a pretty good idea of what Finn was planning, Jake positioned himself right beside the shelf. Seeing the monster encroaching on him with some speed, Jake readied himself. Reaching his arm across his chest, he let his skin stretch down to appear as if he was holding a cape in front of himself. Waving it back and forth, he shouted to the man, "All right let's go! Andele! Andele!" As though entranced, the giant charged towards Jake, intent on finally grinding him to dust. As the massive person charged towards him, Jake kept his composure. Moments before the two would've collided, Jake stepped off to the side, just narrowly avoiding the impact.

The Dog safely out of the way, the giant man found only cold metal at the end of his path. Crashing into the shelf with tremendous force, the impact was directed nearly completely back at himself, and he soon found himself falling flat on his back. However, not all of the energy found its way into the man's body. The shelf, having taken the brunt of the impact, was rocked a few inches back. Easily weighing at least a ton, the shelf was now perched precariously on its edge, tilted away from the one that had just crashed against it.

This was just the moment that Finn had been waiting for. He had positioned himself behind the old shelf and had been waiting for Jake to get the man to crash against it, a feat he had executed perfectly. Now the shelf was rocking back towards Finn, but this was exactly was what he had hoped for. As the shelf reached the apex of its lean, teetering just on the brink of righting itself or crashing down on Finn, he pushed back against it with the full force he could muster. Faced with a weight he had far underestimated, the Human was almost fearful that things would turn out tragically for himself.

But after several tense moments, he could feel the structure begin to sway towards the opposite side. Confidence rising, he pushed harder and harder as the shelf tipped further towards its origin point. Finally the shelf rocked back upright, but did not remain there long as both the momentum and Finn's added force continued to carry it forward. Tipping past the middle point, the shelf was now threatening to collapse on top of the giant, and it showed no signs of stopping.

Feeling it now out of his control, Finn back up from the shelf, not wanting to end up going down with it. He glanced to the side and saw Jake sprint out from the impact zone as well. The giant man, however, had no chance of escaping from the avalanche. The shelf finally came down with a thunderous clap, raising a huge cloud of dust and forcing Finn to turn away for a moment. Once the dust had settled, he allowed himself to check on the damage he'd just done.

Walking over to meet with his brother, his eyes searched for any sign of the man they'd just buried. Unbelievably he could still hear some muffled moans coming from somewhere beneath all of the metal, and perhaps even saw the faintest trace of movement. Placing his hands on his hips, Jake let out a long whistle. "Boy that was intense. That guy is seriously no joke." Finn placed a hand on the top of the Dog's head, helping to prop himself up. "Yeah… But I don't think even he's gonna get up from that."

Jake suddenly began to dart his eyes across the room. "Hey, speaking of severe beat downs wasn't there at least one more guy here?" Finn hummed, and brought up his hand, counting off their fallen foes on his fingers. "Let's see… there were six total… you punched out that first dude… I took down two more… and we got that big guy just now." Jake chimed in, "Oh, and I also took out one more guy, so… yeah, we're short one."

At that moment, a clattering of metal followed by a muffled curse drew their attention towards the center of the building. The last man, the one who had originally intended to sell the medal, was on his knees, frantically digging through a pile of garbage on the floor. Leaning off from Jake, Finn nudged him towards the last criminal. The two were able to get right up behind him before he noticed. "Aha! There you are." He exclaimed, leaning back on his heels and bringing his hand up.

The two looked at each other briefly before each loudly cleared their throats. The man shrieked in surprise, and the same metal clattering sound rang out again. He turned his head very slowly, dreading what he would find. Finn and Jake could catch just the barest hint of his eyes peering out from layers of cloth; both of them appeared very tired and very impatient. "All right dude, can we please rap this up already?" Finn said down to the man. "Yeah, we're frickin exhausted here; so just surrender to the law and let's be done with this already." Jake added. The man merely let his hands drop to his sides, staring at the ground. "I was so close…"

It seemed as though the man were on the verge of tears, and neither hero had nearly the patience to sit and wait for him to finish. Grabbing him beneath the arms, Jake grew himself and lifted the man to his feet. "Alright, alright, c'mon dude, no use crying over spilled milk." Keeping the man's arms pinned, he began to lead him towards the exit. "Finn, don't forget to grab that medal thing." He called over his shoulder.

Finn, meanwhile, had remained in the center. "Yeah, just a minute. He dropped the stupid thing in the middle of all this trash." As he bent down to begin rifling through the debris, he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. Peering up to a shaded corner of the warehouse, Finn could swear he saw something; a figure, hunched over and seemingly shivering. "Hey Jake!? You sure we got everyone!?" Jake and his charge stopped. "Everyone we saw!" Finn slowly rose to his feet. He was about to make his way over to the shadow when it suddenly moved rapidly, as though rising up very quickly.

Finn immediately stopped in his tracks, sensing something was very wrong. He couldn't quite tell what was happening; it were as though a very strange and ominous presence had just filled the air around him. _'What… What's going on?... What am I seeing here? Is my sight going or…"_ Finn could swear that the air was beginning to shimmer, like from an intense heat but that was definitely not the reason. He momentarily considered it was his vision blurring, but looking around the room seemed to suggest that the phenomena was focused on that one particular spot.

He was on the verge of walking right into it when the air itself seemed to split. A black void, like an inky window appeared, forcing Finn to take a step back. He realized that whatever had just formed was likely incredibly dangerous, yet he could not manage to pull himself away from the spectacle. He did not notice as the hole gradually began to draw in some of the surrounding debris. He did not notice as the hole began to enlarge, widen and grow taller.

It was not until his brother shouted for him that Finn began to notice the danger. The void was now definitely much bigger than what it had originally been, and he could definitely feel some manner of force pulling him towards the void. He attempted to begin to back away, but only managed a few, very laborious steps; the vacuum force was growing increasingly powerful. He soon found he could no longer pull away any further, and it was taking all his focus just to keep from hurtling into the black hole. Finn was perhaps seconds away from allowing panic to take over before a felt a hand grip him by the back of his shirt. The next thing he knew he was being reeled back in by his brother.

A mild wave of relief hit Finn as he felt his back hit Jake's furry form. But that did little to alleviate his concern of the overall situation. The black hole was growing larger still, and the suction was becoming increasingly overwhelming, strong enough that it was starting to seem like a hurricane had materialized right within the building. "We've got to get out of here!" Finn had to shout to get over the wind. "I'm on top of things!" Jake shouted back.

With one arm safely securing Finn, and the other keeping their prisoner in line, Jake glanced to the other end of the warehouse. The exits were still all open, and it seemed that the vacuum force hadn't grown strong enough to completely uproot most of the large shelves and other heavier equipment. Keeping his two passengers wrapped up tight, he began to stretch several extra appendages out of his back, reaching them back to hook on to whatever they could find. As he began to pull everyone out, the medal's original holder began to thrash violently.

Jake was forced to stop their retreat just to get a better grip on his prisoner, a fact he was not happy about. "Dude are you nuts!? Quit jerking around or you're gonna go straight into that thing!" The man, however, did not cease his struggles. "NO! I won't leave the Medallion! Not when I was so close!" Faced with the man's incessant writhing while simultaneously fighting against the increasingly furious winds, Jake felt his grip begin to slip. He had to make a choice; if he didn't release the criminal they might all wind up hurtling into the void. So he released his grip, sending the man careening toward the hole.

The two heroes watched as the man was sucked into the void, completely swallowed whole as though into the gaping maw of some terrible monster. Awful as it was, they both knew they could not afford to end up like him, and Jake was soon back to dragging them to the exit. By the time they reached the door, the hole had grown to a black sphere encompassing almost half the floor space of the warehouse, and was nearly as tall as the ceiling. The door itself was stuck open, constantly being drawn towards the void. Jake was currently stuck in the door frame, fighting desperately to keep from being sucked back in. With a last burst of effort, he managed the whip his body, flinging Finn out the door first with himself following after, making sure to throw them away from the opening.

The two heroes, now outside and sheltered from the powerful suction of the black whole, allowed themselves a moment to lay limp on the ground, breathing profusely from equal parts relief and exhaustion. Neither felt too comfortable waiting around too long, though, and very shortly thereafter forced themselves to rise once more. Although they were out of immediate danger, the violent sounds still emanating from within the building kept in their minds the still very present danger. "Dude… you think we'd better back up or something?" Jake asked. "Yeah… probably a good idea." The two brothers began to get as far away from the building as they could.

The warehouse itself, while located within the Candy Kingdom, was located in the least populace district, which was largely comprised of similar industrial sites. The warehouse itself was settled on fairly large property surrounded by a tall fence, so Finn and Jake were able to put a good deal of distance between themselves and the building. Each were silently praying that the ball would simply stop and vanish at some point. Much to their horror, though, they saw as the orb began to creep out from the roof of the building, engulfing more and more every second. Not five minutes later, the sides of the building had begun to succumb as well as the ball continued to expand.

Anxiety began to well in the two heroes' throats as they began to fear the void was unstoppable. Jake was the first to speak up. "This is not good. If that thing keeps growing like that it could cover the whole neighborhood. Even the whole Kingdom!" Finn felt exactly the same if not more terrified, but he had no comment to make. After all, he had absolutely no clue what he could possibly do to even slow that thing, and he doubted Jake had any better ideas.

Finally, Jake could not take just standing around any further. "Okay dude, we've waited long enough. We have to go alert the Princess; maybe she'll have some way to stop it. Even if she doesn't, she'll still need to evacuate everyone." Jake was ready to get out of dodge, but Finn noticed something, and held up a hand to his companion. "Hang on a sec, dude. That thing hasn't grown for the last few minutes." Finn had felt something was odd, and it was only just now that he realized that no more of the building had been consumed; the void had stopped growing.

Jake, though, still looked far more nervous. "So what? Just because the thing stopped growing doesn't mean…" But he cut off there, and his face crinkled as though he'd just caught a foul scent. "Hey, 'd you feel that?" Finn did not actually notice anything strange, or more so than what had already happened. "No, what?" The boy asked. "I don't know, it kinda felt like…"

Once again Jake was cut off, but this time by a much more noticeable occurrence. Before either could tell what had happened, the massive black sphere began to rapidly shrink back down. They watched as the ball fell behind what remained of the building's structure, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound. It was not long at all before everything was quiet, and the only sounds were of the building settling after the beating it just took.

Finn stood still, just staring at the now eerily calm building which only moments ago housed an incredible vortex of destruction. He was almost afraid that by just going to look he would somehow instigate the void to reappear, but he knew he had no choice in the matter; he had to be sure the Kingdom was safe. As he began to slowly walk back towards the front entrance he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. "Dude, be extra careful; we still have no idea what that was, or what caused it." Jake said, emphasizing the second part. Finn turned to look briefly before nodding his head and resuming his approach.

Now back at the wall, Finn took a deep breath before peering his head through the door. What he saw was almost unthinkable; the entire interior was disintegrated. Where once there had been a cramped space utterly packed with metal and wood, now there was simply nothing. Finn took a tentative step into the building. When it failed to trigger another armageddon, he took another step further. Now fully inside, he inspected the ground. It appeared totally blackened, as though scorched. He briefly wondered if the black sphere could have been some sort of odd fire spell, but there was no ash on the ground, absolutely no remains whatsoever of the multitude of objects that had been here.

Then he remembered that there hadn't just been inanimate object in here, but six living beings that had been scattered about the grounds. Finn needed only to take a cursory glance to confirm that they were all gone as well; consumed along with everything else. At that thought, Finn couldn't help but feel a sharp sense of failure stab at him. He'd just let six people be destroyed. Sure, they may have been criminals, but they were only black marketers, and Finn certainly had no intention of killing them.

He would've doubtless dwelt longer on the somber topic had something in the building not caught his eye. Upon his initial inspection he had assumed everything to be utterly destroyed. But as he turned his head he caught a glint coming from the center floor. Intrigued, he began to approach the suspect item. Coming upon it, he confirmed that it was, in fact, the medal. At first Finn could only feel confusion. _'What the… This thing was right at the center; how was it the only thing that survived?" _

Bending down, he scooped up the trinket to finally get a good look at it. It was pretty much what he had been expecting; small, circular, gold at least in color, and strung with a thin gold chain. Really the only remarkable thing about it seemed to be that it was damaged. A little less than half of the medal seemed missing, as though broken off. What's more, an indentation seemed to suggest it used to hold some stone or ornament that has since been lost. Of course, the possibility existed that it itself was damaged in the black hole, but given the state of everything else around it, it seemed far more likely that it was damaged prior to being caught in the void.

_'__Well… if nothing else at least I got this thing back.' _Finn seemed quite sober as he pocketed the medal. He had plenty to worry about regarding tonight, and the confusion would only grow once he had to figure out how to explain everything to the Princess; that was not a conversation he would be looking forward to. Something certainly seemed troubling about recent events, to say the least. He doubted that the thugs had any more warning to the event than he did, otherwise they would've never been here; but on the other hand the sheer fact that the medal was the only thing unharmed by the black hole had to mean the two were linked in one way or another.

As thoughts and theories pounded in his skull, Finn became acutely aware of how tired he was. It had been a long enough day already. Between waiting around all night and getting in a savage gang fight, the last thing he needed to deal with was some terrible magic or otherwise incomprehensible disaster. Further investigation, Bubblegum, heroics, that could all wait until morning. Right now, he just desperately wanted to pass out. With all energy gone, it was a fight just to get back outside, even without some otherworldly vortex sucking him in. His brother in sight, he called out to him, "C'mon Jake, let's go home. I need about sixteen hours of sleep to deal with everything we had to do tonight."


	2. Disagreement

Chapter 2: Disagreement

* * *

"Okay… We're going to go over this ONE more time." Princess Bubblegum said, her voice saturated with weariness and her head down between her arms. "UGHHH" Both Finn and Jake shared an anguished groan. They'd spent the better part of the last hour confined to this room within the Princess' castle, meticulously reviewing every last detail of the previous night in agonizing detail. Unfortunately, and despite their complete honesty and cooperation, Bubblegum had not yet been satisfied with their accounts.

"Come ON Princess! We've been over this a thousand times now!" Jake exclaimed, nearly on the verge of tears. "Seriously Peebs; we've told you everything that happened last night. Every! Last! Thing! You know the whole story exactly as well as we do now!" Finn chimed in, equally agitated with the Princess' seeming reluctance to accept their story as fact.

That didn't seem to sit well with her. "Oh do I now, Finn? I know everything there is to know about this case?" The Princess raised her head, anger evident in her eyes. She slowly rose from her seat, shoulders hunched and towering over the two young heroes. "Because I could swear that I have NO IDEA why an entire industrial warehouse disappeared without a trace! I could swear I have NO IDEA how a simple sting operation ended up with a massive detonation that's sent my entire city into a state of panic!" She was practically frothing at the mouth.

Finn cowered under her gaze; having always been the one person Bubblegum could depend on, he couldn't help but feel a sense of failure made all the more painful as she scolded him like a misbehaved child. Jake, however, did not accept the Princess' criticism, and felt a growing hostility towards her. He stood up in his own seat, just about coming to Bubblegum's eye level. "Hey, don't act like this is our fault! We did everything you told us! We busted those guys and got that cheap necklace back; how were we supposed to know that the place was about to go supernova? If anything, it's YOUR fault for not giving us all the info we needed!"

The Princess' and the Dog's eyes were locked on each other, fuming, as though trying to pour all their respective fury into the other. Watching the two, Finn almost swore that he could see lightning arcing between them. He decided to try and calm things down before things escalated further. Rising up, he quickly placed his hands on Jake's shoulders, trying to reassure him. The Dog looked back to see Finn pleading with him to settle and grudgingly let himself slide back down into his seat. He was still clearly steamed, but he was no longer trying to visually incinerate the Princess, which was markedly better.

He looked back up to see the Princess still quite frustrated. He decided it would just be easier on everyone to act apologetically. "Look, we're sorry Princess. It was just a really long and really hard night for us. We did everything we could, and we're sorry we couldn't stop whatever that thing was." Upon hearing Finn's conciliated tone, she visibly eased, her piercing glare dulling to one of simple exhaustion. She released an extended breath and slipped back into her own seat. With the tension broken for the moment, Finn too fell back to his chair, desiring more than anyone to get through the rest of the meeting in relative peace.

"We can't change what happened last night. Now we have to focus on figuring out what it was and who or what caused it." Finn explained, knowing he'd have to be the one to get the discussion back on the right track. "You're right Finn. We need to find out everything we can about this phenomena, including how to stop it should this ever happen again. So why don't you explain again what exactly caused the destruction." Bubblegum conceded to Finn's point, and brought their discussion back full circle. Jake couldn't completely suppress a dissatisfied groan from echoing out of his chest, but refrained from making any further comment; he figured if Finn wanted to be the voice of reason then he would be the one to iterate their story over and over.

Finn, though unhappy, once more began to explain the circumstances of the building's obliteration. "So we captured the one guy and knocked all the rest unconscious, and the medal was buried under a pile of trash somewhere in the middle of the warehouse. I walked over to dig it out, but I saw something moving over in the shadows; I'm sure it was a person. And before I could pick up the medal, this… the air, like, ripped open. There was just this black tear, just floating in the air. Before I knew what was happening, it started growing bigger, into a ball. Then I noticed some stuff started moving towards it, and then suddenly I felt myself being pulled towards it, like some kind of vacuum." He paused to catch his breath, and to make sure the Princess was still following. _'Well of course SHE is. Unlike me, she can actually pay attention.'_

Finn continued, "Anyway, before I got sucked in Jake grabbed me and started pulling us toward the exit. The one guy, the one who was trying to sell the medal, he was the one Jake caught, and he started freaking out. He wound up slipping out of Jake's grip and flew right into the thing… just, swallowed whole. Jake got us out of the warehouse and we backed up to the fence. Eventually the black ball got big enough that it was poking out from roof, but instead of taking over the whole building, it just suddenly disappeared." The Princess interrupted, "How? It just vanished?" Finn clarified, "No, I'm pretty sure it shrank back down first. I mean, it was kind of hard to see since we were outside and the front wall was still up."

With Finn apparently finished, the Princess appeared to be deep in thought. Her hands folded and her brow furled. "This just doesn't make sense. I don't know of any weapon, device, reaction, are natural phenomenon that can cause something like what you've described. Well… not on such a small scale anyway." For some reason, Jake seemed to perk up just then.

"Hey Princess, I just remembered something." Bubblegum simply raised an eyebrow to him, waiting for him to elaborate. "Well… it's kind of hard to explain. It's like… an animal thing. Right before the black ball appeared, and then again right before it disappeared, I… well, felt something." A look of obvious confusion crosses Bubblegum's face. "Like I said, it's hard to explain; like a… a sixth sense kind of thing. Actually…mmhh!" Jake hummed excitedly and snapped his finger in sudden realization. "I know! I feel exactly the same thing before a big storm hits!"

The Princess took this into consideration. "Interesting. Many animals can sense a drop in atmospheric pressure, such as when a storm occurs. This might not help us figure out what happened, but it might help us predict if and when it would happen again." Her hand went to her chin as the wheels in her head rapidly began to spin. "And Finn; you said you're certain there was someone else at the scene who wasn't among the original group?" She looked up to see Finn nod in confirmation. "Yeah, there was definitely someone hiding in that building that we didn't catch."

Bubblegum released a muffled hum as her theories began to solidify in her mind. "So we can't overlook the possibility that this was, in fact, a directed attack. The only problem is it'd have to be someone with an immense intellect to design this kind of weapon; even I can't think of anything that would make something like this possible." While she brought to her mind the entirety of her knowledge in the hopes that she might consider something, Finn decided to voice his own thought.

"Well, you know Princess… It could be magic" Bubblegum only shot him a dirty look, waving her hand as though utterly dismissing the possibility. "Finn, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times; there is no such thing as magic. Everything exists within the realm of scientific possibility; whatever happened at the warehouse can be explained rationally, and eventually it can be stopped… or recreated." Finn sighed and rolled his eyes, that is, once the Princess' eyes were turned, of course. Many times had he been forced to endure the endless rants, lectures and tirades of the Princess criticizing every facet of the very idea that magic existed. He personally never understood any of it, and as far as he cared there were just some things that couldn't be explained with reason. Of course, he would never, ever dare to try and debate the Princess on that issue.

"Right, sorry. So we assume it was just some crazy… bomb or whatever. Fine. There's still one more part we have to focus on; how does the medal fit into all of this?" Much to his surprise, the Princess once again waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I wouldn't waste much thought on that Finn. As far as I'm concerned that's a dead end." Finn's face contorted in confusion. "Wait what? No, it has to be important, it's the only thing that wasn't destroyed." Bubblegum shook her head. "You're under thinking things. If the sphere destroyed everything it touched than a crater should've been made, but all reports indicate that the floor remained level. Clearly certain materials can withstand the blast, likely concrete or even soil among other things."

Finn, though having been totally complacent so far, seemed adamant on this point. "But that still doesn't follow! If the medal survived because of what it was made of than there should've at least been a few more things that escaped too. Like the coins! I know for a fact that the thugs were going to pay with gold coins. If the medal survived than the coins should've survived too. That thing has to be… special, somehow."

Bubblegum could tell he was truly confident in this matter. She didn't wish to lecture him again, and only let out a sigh as her eyes closed momentarily. Soon after though, her attention returned and she opened a drawer in her desk. Her hand disappeared for just a second before reemerging with something contained within a sealed plastic bag, which she promptly deposited on the desktop. It was the medal in question.

"I ran every test I could think of, Finn. It had no unique characteristics, average weight, average density, a standard magnetic field, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing of note is the fact that the medal is not made of gold, but electrum. That's probably why it survived while the coins didn't." She was really trying her best to spare the boy's feelings, but she had to be firm in her explanations; it wouldn't help anything for him to continue chasing false leads. Her eyes fell on the lad, who seemed to be rather disheartened. Her gaze drifted over to the Dog that Finn called his brother, who appeared to have completely checked out at this point. _'They both must be totally burnt out by now. I feel like I'm the one freaking out, but they actually had to deal with the actual event. Grilling them any longer won't serve any good, they really need rest now.' _

A brief nod of her head served to indicate Bubblegum's inner monologue had finished. "I'm sorry Finn, Jake. I know I've been short with you today, but this is a serious issue and I needed the clearest information I could get." Despite the overbearing sense of exhaustion in the room, Finn still managed a smile for the Princess. "It's okay PB, really. I know how important this is and so does Jake. Right?" The lack of any response drew Finn's attention to his apparently brain-dead brother. A quick jab to his side brought Jake back to the waking world. "HUHH?!... Uh, the sum of all angles is a hundred-fifty!"

Finn couldn't stifle a slight chortle while the Princess pinched the bridge of her nose. _'And sometimes I wonder how they can possibly be brothers.' _Regaining her composure, and now with a full audience, she continued. "As I was saying, on behalf of the Candy Kingdom I thank you both for your hard work and dedication. Now why don't you two go rest up. I have a feeling things won't be getting much better any time soon." After he last cryptic words, the two heroes up-righted themselves. But while Jake made for the exit Finn lingered behind.

"Say Princess? I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting me keep that medal. You know, since it's not important to you now." Finn asked, leaning back on his heel and trying to appear as innocent as possible. She appeared conflicted. "Finn, I already told you there's no point investing any more time in this thing." Still trying to sound appeasing, he pressed the issue. "No, I get it. I'm not gonna look for answers that aren't there. I just… I'd just like a reminder. Plus, you know, I always try and grab a souvenir form every adventure."

After some brief thought, the Princess relented. "Fine." She said, sliding the plastic bag over towards Finn. "Just remember what I told you." A big smile breaking out on his face, Finn deftly snatched up his prize. Without a second glance he was back heading towards the exit, off to catch back up with Jake.

Although Bubblegum severely doubted that Finn had any intention of heeding her words, there really wasn't anything she could do to dissuade him. Still though, even if he hadn't yet decided to embrace her world views, even though he still accepted such a juvenile world view as the truth, she knew that Finn was still the most trustworthy person she could count on. And given recent events, and more importantly the uncertainty and fear sure to be found in the coming days, his involvement was certain to be necessary.

* * *

Much later that evening, Finn was lounging about the treehouse, comfortably propped up on a couch. Debriefing the Princess had been the very first thing he and Jake had done that morning, so upon coming home several hours later all either wanted to do was crash and continue to recover from the previous night. But while he allowed his body to recuperate, his mind remained focused on the odd events he'd gotten mixed up in. In his hand he held the medal that had been the original point of focus for everything, and which had so soon been dismissed as irrelevant. Dangling it from its' chain, he held the small object above his head, memorizing every little detail and wracking his brain for some sort of explanation as to how it tied into the explosion.

"Still messing around with that thing?" Jake inquired as he wandered into the room. "Hardly. Nothing about this thing seems special at all." A frustrated Finn replied. "I mean, there's no obvious magical effect on it. It doesn't glow, vibrate, shoot lightning or warp reality. It doesn't even have any kind of mark or symbol I could investigate!" As he shouted his fist curled around the medal and his arm fell over his eyes.

Taking a seat opposite his brother, Jake settled in and took a bite of the sandwich he had prepared. "So you think you're ready to give up on this yet?" Finn removed his arm from his face just to give his brother a look of sheer disbelief. "Are you kidding me right now?" He unclasped the medal and brandished it menacingly towards the Dog. "This thing could be our ONLY real clue to what happened last night! How are you not taking this more seriously?" Despite Finn's accusations towards him, Jake merely shrugged his shoulders and continued to chew his food, utterly unperturbed.

"I don't know. Just seems like… meh, you know? Like, we don't even know if this'll happen again." Finn only rolled his eyes. "C'mon man. You know I can't believe that." He brought the medal back into his field of vision. "There's something more to this. There just has to be." A very audible swallow came from Jake's direction. "Yeah well, when you figure out what that 'something' happens to be, let me know."

Finn let out a light sigh and brought his hand down to his chest. _'I know how Jake doesn't really like to focus on anything, but I wish he could take just a FEW things seriously… Well whatever. I guess I'll just have to figure this out on my own. So I guess my next move is finding out if this thing really is magic or not. PB won't be any help, so where do I go for advice on magic?' _Leaning up slightly, Finn looked back to Jake to find he had finished his sandwich and had evidently attempted to fall asleep.

"Hey. Jake. JAKE!" Finn screamed to get his attention. Though the dog's face contorted in clear agitation, he refused to open his eyes. "Ughhh what man? Can't you see I'm trying to catch a nap here?" He whined. Ignoring his tone, the Human continued. "Hey, who do we know that knows a lot about magic and weird stuff?" Jake twisted in thought, but still refused to open his eyes. "No one we like." Finn shook his head. "C'mon, we've got to have ONE friend who we can go to on this. Hey what about Choose Goose? He's always into weird artifacts and magical items." Jake, though not having seen Finn, reciprocated his gesture. "Can't, remember? Choose Goose went off on that sketchy voyage across the Endless Ocean. We might never see him again."

"Oh… right." Finn muttered in displeasure. "Think I could sneak back into Wizard City and get this thing checked out?" Jake released a very negative sounding hum. "I don't think so. We're still public enemies uno and dos after that whole 'Blood Ritual' fiasco the last time we snuck in." Finn shuddered just thinking about that whole situation. "Right." As Finn continued to mentally list every possible source Jake spoke up, suggesting exactly the one thing Finn didn't want to hear.

"Man I hate to say this, but I think the only magic expert we even might be on good terms with is… urghhh, Ice King." The Dog's nose wrinkled in disgust at the mention of the two's long term archenemy/extremely unwanted 'friend.' Of course, Finn was considerably opposed to the idea of going to him for help. "No way dude. Ice King getting involved in this could just make things ten times worse." Still trying to think of literally any other option, Finn snapped his fingers as a thought came to mind.

"Hey I've got it! Why don't I try Marceline? I mean, she's like a vampire AND demon; that's pretty magical right? Plus she's been all over Ooo, the Night-o-Sphere, and who knows how many other planes of existence? She might just have seen something like this before." Truth be told, Finn wasn't entirely ecstatic over the thought of visiting the infamous Vampire Queen. That's not to say there was any sort of real problem between them; the two were as close friends as they were when the first met. The only issue in Finn's mind was the fact that in recent memory Marceline had been acting rather… odd in his company; almost uncomfortably so. Still, that choice was still a million times better than Ice King.

Jake, still trying very much to be asleep, shrugged. "Your call man, but those two are probably your only options for finding out anything about that necklace." Begrudgingly, Finn had to agree with that. Still, whatever the cost, Finn was going to figure out the story behind the medal. Ever eager to set off on his next adventure, Finn too quickly pushed himself upright, inviting a significant ache from his ribcage and forcing him back to the couch. Even though he'd been resting, it seemed he was still licking his wounds from the previous night; and in all honesty he'd likely drained whatever energy he'd had during his meeting with the Princess. _'Well, I guess I can wait a day before heading out on that lead.'_


	3. An Awkward Visit

Chapter 3: An Awkward Visit

* * *

_'__Well… there's no way this meeting won't be at least a little awkward. Come to think of it, I've been having a lot of awkward meetings lately. I wonder why that is?' _Finn idly thought to himself as he made his way across the damp cave floor. As had been his plan, after spending the previous day nursing his health he had left first thing in the morning for the Vampire's abode, still settled in the same dank cave, safely hidden away from the majority of Ooo's denizens.

At the present, Finn had to rely on a flashlight to help him navigate the cavern. Normally enough light would permeate the chamber that he could wander unhindered, but while he usually came around sometime during the evening hours, today Finn had come very early in the morning; early enough that the dawn's first rays had yet to even encroach on the land. He figured that seeing as how Marceline was usually a nocturnal being, then he might still catch her awake if he visited before the sunlight forced her back into her dwelling. And of course, he himself was rather eager to burn some energy since he had likely spent at least two-thirds of the last thirty-six hours asleep.

Once he had finally found his way to the door, he became rather discouraged to find that there were no lights, sounds, or any indication of activity coming from the small cottage. One of the last things that Finn would want to do would be to disturb Marceline from her slumber, as he knew from personal experience. Then again, with her nature being so unpredictable she could very well be awake despite evidence to the contrary; and Finn really didn't want to have to either wait on her doorstep or leave and return much later. His hand lingered just above the door bell, torn between getting his answers immediately and inviting her wrath.

Luckily (or perhaps not so much), he wouldn't have to make that decision himself. While Finn loitered on Marceline's doorstep, a familiar shadowy figure had been watching from the roof. Without making a sound, the mischievous individual dropped down behind the young boy, gently floating herself towards the ground and even stopping her body completely before even touching the stone. Slowly, she eased her face closer to the kid's form, coming just behind his neck. Not so much as a breath escaped her lips, nor anything else that would've alerted her target to her presence. Finally, before he had a chance to discover her or make up his mind, the woman whispered directly into his ear.

"Boo." As he felt that one, simple word ghost into his ear Finn released a terribly non-masculine scream and went to turn his body around in sheer panic. Unfortunately, due in part to the slickness of the stone underneath his feet as well as to his own jerky movement, he soon found himself slipping back and falling hard on his hind. As soon as he let out a rough "OOOF" he heard his assailant begin to cackle at his reaction.

"Not Funny Marcy." Finn grumbled in annoyance. Eventually the vampire calmed herself enough to reply to him through a very demeaning smirk. "Yeah right, we both know I'm hilarious." Despite her completely innocent intentions, she saw Finn decide to continue to pout. As a gesture of good will, she reached her hands down to his own in an offer of help. Though peeved, Finn nonetheless accepted her charity, taking her hands and soon finding himself hefted back up to his feet.

Composing himself after his less than graceful performance, Finn released a weary sigh. "Glob, Marceline. You practically scared me half to death." At his continued melodramatics, Marceline released a light chuckle. "Well maybe Mr. Big Tough Hero just needs to man up a little and then I won't be able to scare him like a frightened little rabbit. Really, you may as well trade in that bear hat of yours and just stick a big, floppy pair of bunny ears up there." She punctuated her mockery of Finn with a quick flick to his forehead. He merely rubbed the spot where he'd been hit and continued to glare disapprovingly at her.

Still Marceline refused to lose her deviously raucous demeanor. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for teasing you. Would a kiss make you feel any better?" Even though she'd played the joker so far for the duration of their meeting, Finn knew she would absolutely make good on her offer if given the opportunity. Rather than deal with that awkwardness, he decided to try and just move on and get back to the point of his visit. "Look, can I just ask you a few things? There's some pretty serious biz going on and I wanted to see if you could help me at all." While most times Finn was totally content to loose himself and simply mess around with Marceline unhindered, the few times when he genuinely needed her help with something made dealing with her somewhat… difficult.

"Oh fine. If we're gonna be all serious today we may as well go inside." Marceline relented to Finn's wishes, sounding incredibly bored. Finally she opened the door to her domicile and floated on inside with Finn following close thereafter. Moving over towards the kitchen door, she flicked a light switch and flooded the room with light, momentarily blinding both of them as their eyes adjusted. Floating lazily with her arms behind her back, she beckoned Finn, "Well? Pull up a seat and get comfortable. Then we can dish about all your problems."

Unhappily, Finn brought himself over to her infamously uncomfortable couch and sat himself down, trying to cause himself as little discomfort as possible. Despite his many, MANY complaints over the years, Marceline had never seen fit to replace the awful furniture, and he'd long since given up any attempts at persuading her. Once he'd more or less settled himself in, Marceline shifted her position in mid-air, settling herself so she appeared to be laying down on her stomach, her arms folded beneath her chin and bringing herself directly in front of Finn. "So Finn, which one of my darkest, most personal secrets do you want to know." As she asked this, she flashed him a devilish smile.

_'__There it is…'_ Finn thought to himself, noting the very subtle shift in her tone. It was something he had been noticing more and more in her behavior for the past several months. More specifically, he'd begun to notice a change in how she behaved towards him personally. That's not to say she'd developed any sort of particular animosity towards him; in fact the case seemed to be quite the opposite.

For some time now, in fact for about the last year now that he thought about it, Marceline had begun to adopt a much more… provocative nature towards Finn. She'd always before treated him in a very playful manner, but in a far more platonic way. Very gradually, her playful jests began to seem almost genuine. Her frequent joking insinuations of Finn having any sort of romantic feeling towards her became less jokes and more open invitation. Almost too often she'd make up any excuse to initiate physical contact with him, be that simply tossing an arm over his shoulder or suddenly taking flight with him in tow, all but forcing him to cling uncomfortably close to her lest he plummet to the earth. Every little thing she did, every subtle gesture and blatant insinuation, even her tone which strayed just shy of being obviously seductive, everything, despite their obvious intention, felt more and more to Finn like a warning flare.

And if he was being honest, there were absolutely times when Finn couldn't help but let his mind wonder how taking that path might turn out. Still, despite whatever curiosity he might have had it was far too easy for him to consider a myriad of reasons why pursing a relationship with Marceline would be a very BAD idea; chief among them was the thought of utterly alienating yet another of his closest friends, as had happened with the Flame Princess and had so nearly happened with Bubblegum.

"Ughh, none of them actually… or, probab…. err, hopefully not, anyway." Finn responded, doing his best to not feel too intimidated under her gaze. His uncertainty in his answer piqued Marceline's interest, and her smile grew imperceptibly wider as an eyebrow raised. "Hmmm? And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Finn really hadn't intended to imply an ulterior motive to his question. He did need to know about her past, he just wasn't positive that what he wanted to know wouldn't coincide with something he DIDN'T want to know.

Rubbing his neck, Finn blew a puff of air as he considered how he would go about elaborating on his request. It would be difficult enough to describe the phenomena in a way that she might recognize, and that was made only more complicated by her long and inarguably somewhat troubled history; he certainly didn't want to bring up any painful memories for her. "I guess… well, have you heard any news about the Candy Kingdom in the last couple days?"

Curiously, Marceline seemed to turn slightly more serious at his question, her smile diminishing to a more neutral expression. Marceline rolled herself over in the air so her back was now faced towards the ground and she appeared upside down to Finn, her long raven hair spilling down and even pooling just slightly on the carpet. She put a hand to her chin in thought.

"I did hear something about an… explosion? I think. Like a factory blew up or something. I didn't hear about anyone getting hurt though." Finn thought about what she'd just said. _'I wonder if Bubblegum is spinning the story to keep panic down. Then again, Marcy's not really known for caring much about current events. Well, either way I'll have to tell her the truth.' _

"That's… sort of right…" Finn proceeded to tell Marceline exactly what had happened, describing in much detail as he could every aspect of the black hole and the damage it caused. By the end she seemed thoroughly involved, having turned right-side-up and her expression intently focused on what Finn was describing. Finn finally ended his story with him recovering the medal. He chose to omit his meeting with the Princess, not thinking it really mattered to Marceline anyway. "So that's why I'm here, Marcy. I was thinking you might have seen or heard about something like this before."

Marceline had to mull things over for several moments, and kept Finn waiting in suspense. Eventually, her thoughts seemed to settle and a slight smile returned to her face, though this one seemed far more innocent than previous. "And let me guess, that Miss Goody Two-Shoes Bonnibel was absolutely no help; was she?" Finn was slightly surprised that she had come to that conclusion. "Well… pretty much that, yea."

At his admittance, Marceline released a slight laugh, somber with just the slightest hint of venom. "I'm not surprised. Bonnibel would never admit that anything magical or supernatural existed, even when the proof was staring her right in the face. I just think she won't admit that there are just some things even she can't understand, and that just drives her nuts." She ended her statement with a slight yet unsettling look. Just as quickly though, she returned to her calmed state. As though needing a quick recuperation, she closed her eyes for a short moment, letting a soft hum escape her lips. Fin couldn't help but think how peaceful she seemed at that moment.

She remained silent for a time, but began to speak softly just before the pause became too long. "To answer your question Finn…" Her eyes opened, but looked just slightly glazed. "I think I might have seen something like this before." Finn had to release a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. It didn't strike him before, but upon hearing that Marceline knew about the event he realized that he hadn't really been expecting Marceline to know anything. His surprise and delight must have been pretty obvious to Marceline, who motioned her hands as though to slow him down.

"Take it easy there, Hero, I said I MIGHT know something about this. I'm not saying I know for sure that what you saw was the same thing that I did." Finn visibly withdrew himself, and did his best to try and steel himself against the probable disappointment. Still, there was a chance he had a clue and he'd hear everything she had to say before deciding if it helped him or not. "Well… it doesn't matter. Marceline if you think you even might know something, then I'd really appreciate you telling me about it. I mean… it can't hurt, right?"

For some reason Marceline chose to give him an almost depressed smile. Before he could comment, she had drifted right up beside Finn, hovering just above the rock-solid sofa, and had captured him by the shoulder. "You'd be surprised what might be able to hurt you." Her voice seemed almost cheerful, but her words themselves still caused Finn a bit of distress. Before either could dwell on them too long, however, she gave Finn a sharp squeeze, eliciting a sharp intake of air on his part.

After that, Marceline's usual devious mood seemed to have more or less returned, as though just that simple contact between the two had recharged her spirits. "All right Finn, here's the story." Once more she took a moment to pause, however this time it seemed she simply needed the time to properly recall the details. "Keep in mind, this happened a LONG time ago. So even if the two… what'd you call it? Explosion? Event? Whatever… even if the two events are the same, there's not a good chance that they're related in any way."

Once again, she took a second to think. "Man, this must've happened… eight-hundred years back, at least." Finn's eyes bugged out. "That long ago!" She shot him a look to discourage future interruptions. "Uhh, yeah? Thousand year-old vampire here; remember?" He shrank in embarrassment. "Right, sorry." Blowing him off, she continued. "Anyway, so like eight-hundred years or something. I remember because I was still living with my dad in the Night-O-Sphere back then. This was right after I got turned into a vampire… I mean, relatively speaking… so I was still living with the old man while I got used to my powers."

Marceline got a strange twinkle in her eye and a wide smirk crossed her face. "I know you haven't had the best experiences down there, but I really loved living in that place. I mean, after you get used to the constant smell of sulfur and anguish, it's really pretty nice. I remember this one time…" As though just realizing what she was saying, she abruptly stopped herself and cleared her throat. "Uhh, sorry. Guess I kinda got stuck in the past for a second."

Finn was almost sad to see her stop herself. With how crazy her temperament could be at any given time, it was nice to see her genuinely enjoy just a simple, pleasant memory. "So the point is I was living in the Night-O-sphere. And back then my dad was trying, like, really hard to get me to do the whole 'follow in his footsteps' deal. I mean, you've seen how he is with that now. Well trust me, it was a LOT worse when I actually lived with him. Glob, he spent so much time just trying to teach me everything about ruling the place. Boy did that get boring."

She took a moment to readjust herself, shifting in midair and consequently rubbing against Finn a bit, which of course only served to cause him more discomfort. "Well this one day, dear old dad drags me out of bed and just tells me to get ready. He doesn't say where we're going or what we're doing, but… just, his tone was so serious. Like really just, 'do what I say and don't ask questions' serious. So I get up, and he takes me to this little corner of the Night-O-Sphere, way out in the back end of nowhere. When I finally asked what we were doing, he just told me that we were 'taking out the trash.'"

"When we finally got there, it was just this weird little shrine thing; I didn't really care what it was for or who used it. Anyway, we're there and dad pulls this stone tablet-thing out of his coat. I don't know anything about what that was either, and the only thing he said about it was that it was 'not right.'" Marceline paused again in contemplation. "And then he started heading towards the altar, but he told me to keep my distance. He set the tablet down on the altar and started backing away, but he kept watching it the whole time. When he got back to where I was… I remember I was going to ask something, but he just gave me this look and I knew he wanted me to keep quiet."

Finn was finding it inexplicably difficult to gauge Marceline's attitude. She'd seemed to be pretty measured when telling the story, but her expression almost made it seem as if she were somehow conflicted. She continued, "So we just waited, I couldn't tell you how long. And then, just out of nowhere, this black ball appears right over the altar. It opened up real fast, swallowing up the entire shrine in a few seconds. I almost felt like it was pulling me towards it, and I think it must have been because my dad had a death grip on my arm." She released a weird hum that didn't seem to quite fit the situation.

"The thing probably wasn't even there for a minute before it disappeared. And like you said, the ball didn't just vanish; it was like it sucked itself back up. It took me a minute to realize what exactly had just happened because the altar didn't seem affected at all, but then I realized that the tablet was totally gone. And my dad… he just looked so, like, relieved." Marceline looked over to Finn, his eyes wide as he hung on her every word. "It wasn't until later that he explained why he took me with him. He never really told me the finer details, just that that was how he got rid of things that he couldn't have in the Night-O-Sphere." Finally, she seemed finished with her story.

After allowing Marceline a short pause, Finn almost excitedly had to voice himself. "So… you think that that thing was the same kind of magic that I saw in the Candy Kingdom?" But even as he asked, he already seemed set on an affirmative answer. "I can't know for sure since I didn't actually see what you saw, all I can say is that of everything I've ever seen, this seems the most like what you described." She replied, clearly trying to keep Finn from getting his hopes up over nothing.

Still, her attempt would not dissuade Finn, who was already deep in thought as to what his next move should be given this information. Unfortunately, given his rather hasty nature he was somewhat prone to coming up with generally poor ideas. "Hmm… It's starting to sound like if I want some real answers then I'll have to ask old Hunson himself." At the mention of her father's name, Marceline was suddenly filled with apprehension.

Faster than Finn could react to, Marceline had swung herself up and in front of him, grabbing him by both shoulders and staring intently at his face. "Finn I think that would be a really, REALLY bad idea. He's still holding a bit of grudge against you for the last time you were down there." Thinking back to the last time he had been in the Night-O-Sphere, during which he'd been part of a rather… unfortunate incident involving Hunson and a holy artifact, he could see how returning there may only create further complications. "You… might have a point." He said, his face turning downwards.

Shooting him down was not something Marceline had intended to do, and seeing him so dejected certainly didn't make her feel good. She playfully slapped his cheek to get him to look up, and though shocked back to his senses she did greet him with a very warm smile. "Aww, cheer up Finn. I'm sure you must know a hundred timeless deities that could answer your questions. And if not, well, you're still capable of figuring this out on your own; you don't need my dad to solve your problem." Even he couldn't stay dour with her actually trying to cheer hip up.

"You're probably right. I mean, how hard can it be to figure out one spell?" He returned her smile with one of his own. Marceline had always marveled how Finn seemed to be able to lift his mood almost through sheer force of will. It was almost inspiring… if a bit creepy. "Oh hey, before I forget can you take a look at something?" His abrupt segue caught her slightly off guard, but she nonetheless agreed. "Sure, what?" As Finn shrugged her away to go rooting around in his backpack, she couldn't wonder but for a second if this was just an excuse to get her to let go of him.

"Here, this is the medal I found at the warehouse." He explained, pulling a small gold necklace out of his pack. Snatching it out of his fingers, she observed the seemingly benign artifact. It certainly didn't seem special, or even particularly appealing. "So this thing survived the black hole?" He nodded in response. Not finding anything particularly significant about it, she handed the medal back to Finn. "Sorry, but I don't know anything about this. I'm not really an expert on… weird stuff." He put the medal away, but didn't seem particularly disappointed, or even surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't really think you'd recognize it. Just thought I'd ask." Re-slinging his pack, he quickly jumped up from the couch, startling Marceline and forcing her to quickly back up. Before she could react, he flashed her a giant smile. "Hey, I really appreciate your help Marcy. But I think I'd better get going. You know, still got a lot of questions to answer." She almost seemed ready to pout at his quick excuse to leave, but he elected to ignore her and just began to make his way back towards the door.

Just before he could grab the handle, Marceline spoke up again. "Listen Finn, I really want you to be careful with whatever it is your about to do. I don't know exactly what kind of magic it is you're dealing with but just remember, whatever it is, it's powerful enough to destroy the things my dad was afraid of. It got rid of things too evil for the Night-O-Sphere." The full weight of these events had been subtly looming in the back of Finn's mind, and her words only served to remind him of the real severity of his quest. But if there was one thing he'd learned throughout the years, it was that no matter what it was his duty to play the hero, and that meant never showing his worry to anyone. So with a cocky grin he replied, "Don't sweat it Marcy. I've dealt with at least three 'Ultimate Evils' before, so trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Once more turning away, he opened her door and stepped back into the cave proper. He was just a few feet away before Marceline appeared back in the doorframe, calling after him. "Hey Hero!" He quickly turned back towards her. "Remember. My door's always open if you ever… need something from me." She spoke enticingly, batting her long eyelashes after the Human. With an embarrassed blush, Finn could only nod before quickly hurrying away from the agonizingly seductive Vampire.

Safely out of the cave, he breathed a sigh of relief. As always, while he appreciated his visits with Marceline, they often proved to be a little much. Nevertheless, he did come away with at least a little new information. Of course, there were still plenty of threads left to unravel, and he'd more than likely reached a dead end with Marceline, and for the time being the black hole as well. That left the medal as his only option to explore, and unfortunately that meant a visit to someone he'd rather avoid under usual circumstances. But extenuating circumstances required dire measures, and in this case that required a visit to the Ice King.


	4. Cold Shoulder

Chapter 4: Cold Shoulder

* * *

_'__Okay… really could've picked a better day to do this.'_ Finn thought bitterly. A sudden gust of arctic wind whipped up as though just to prove his point, forcing him to raise his arm to shield his face. Once the flurry died down, he lowered his arm and looked towards his destination, not that it did him much good with the snow as thick as it was. Immediately following his departure from Marceline's lair he had set out for the Ice Kingdom in search of further clues. The sun had just barely begun its descent past the horizon by the time that Finn reached the edge of the frigid plains. Of course, that would've been far more noticeable had Ooo's skies not been completely smothered in an overcast. It wasn't until he'd actually reached the frozen wasteland that Finn realized an actual storm had brewed in the Ice domain, and a terrible blizzard at that.

Even though there was absolutely nothing keeping him from returning home and waiting for the blizzard to subside, Finn was determined to forge forward regardless. It was less an issue of recklessness, more like an unexplainable drive he felt. So he donned the thick, white sweater he had stored in his pack and immediately set off to cut through the storm to the Ice King's mountaintop castle. Of course, bravado is all well in good in theory, however, now with the wind and snow biting at his exposed skin and his extra clothing doing little to protect him, he was really regretting his hasty decision.

As if his own discomfort weren't bad enough, the blizzard had severely limited Finn's visibility. He could scarce see ten feet in front of himself, much less make out any particular landmarks, trees, creatures, or even the massive mountain range at the center of the Kingdom. Finn briefly considered the possibility of heading back and returning in calmer weather, but he'd already traveled too far and too long to have a good chance of successfully navigating his way out of the Ice Kingdom. His best bet was to continue forward and try and reach the Ice King's home.

As Finn continued to trudge forward, he gradually began to realize that his vision was somehow worsening. The horizon was becoming darker, and he momentarily feared that the blizzard was becoming even worse. But as he willed himself through the snow he started to see that the air was not growing thicker, rather he was in fact coming up on a wall that had previously been concealed in the storm. After a few more minutes of pushing forward, he finally found himself positioned at the base of a massive rock cliff. And with a little luck, that cliff would lead right up to the Ice King's lair.

Staring straight up, Finn released a ragged breath, a thick white mist pouring out from his throat as his breath froze in the winter air. It wouldn't be a pleasant climb up, but it was manageable. One odd quirk about the mountains in the Ice Kingdom was that there were almost no vertical faces. They remained more or less inclined the entire way up, which would make scaling the mountain significantly easier, especially since Finn did not have any equipment, nor the proper attire, nor even Jake to assist him.

With little other choice, Finn steeled himself as best as we was able and took hold of the first crags he could reach. The stone nearly burned his palms due to their sheer coldness, but his grip remained ironclad, and he was soon hauling himself up the first few feet of the cliff. Making his initial ascent from the base of the cliff was agonizingly slow work. Every moment his hands were on the rock he felt as though his fingers would freeze solid and shatter completely. '_Alright, as soon as I get out of here I'm buying a nice, thick pair of gloves to keep in my pack.' _

Slow and steady, Finn worked his way upwards. Adding to his difficulties was not only the pain in his hands, but the wind as well, which would periodically pick up and threaten to knock him back to the earth, forcing him to pause and cling as tightly as possible to the rock, forcing his fingers against the frigid surface for even longer periods than necessary. He was roughly a quarter-mile up before he reached a ledge deep enough for him to rest on. Finding a solid horizontal surface, Finn pulled himself up and over, stumbling onto the flat ground. Finally catching a break, Finn quickly had his hands together, rubbing vigorously and constantly breathing into them for the small amount of warmth he could provide.

Stuffing his arms into his armpits to conserve warmth, Finn looked up, shivering. The blizzard seemed slightly less thick up here, but he still couldn't see very far. He couldn't even tell how much farther up the mountain went. For all he knew, he hadn't even reached the halfway point. Finn was beginning to grow a little worried. His hands were nearly useless and his body seemed to be losing more and more heat by the minute. He doubted he could even climb as much in his second attempt as in his first, and even if he did there was no telling how much further he'd have to go after that. Things were really starting to look bad for the young man.

But as he began to weigh his options against one another, he heard a voice he NEVER thought he'd be happy to hear. "Hey Finn! What are you doing out here?" Finn realized then that the cold had really begun to affect his mind. His vision had blurred so bad he almost thought an angel had flown down and was gently batting her wings against the winds before him. But even with his eyes failing him, he'd never misinterpret that almost grating, elderly voice. "H-H-Heeeyyyy…. Iccccceeee K-King." He rasped out through chattering teeth.

Thoroughly surprised upon finding his friend (from his perspective) half-frozen near the base of his mountain, Ice King, capable of flight thanks to his beard, landed himself on the rocky outcropping that Finn currently occupied. Unlike his less icily-inclined counterpart, the Ice King seemed totally unfazed by the weather; of course, what else would one expect from the ruler of snow and ice. Oddly enough, Finn thought he heard him sigh out in relief. "Man am I glad to find you here. I thought an assassin had snuck into my domain to use the storm as cover."

Finn wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or aggravated at the appearance of the insane old man. Still, despite his feelings he figured he may as well take advantage of the wizard's presence. "W-W-Well… glad y-you realized y-your m-m-m-mistake." He stuttered while rising to his feet, not without some difficulty. Ice King, ever oblivious, failed to take notice of Finn's rather obvious state of near-hypothermia. He raised a hand to run through his beard. "Still, it is rather odd that you're out here trying to climb my mountain in the middle of a blizzard. Unless… you really are here to kill me!"

At his wrongful assumption a look of rage crossed the Ice King's face; his eyes went white and he raised his hands, frigid electricity sparking off of his fingertips. "Well Boy, I don't know what brought on this betrayal, but you'll find I don't plan to let you take me down without a fight." Despite his body slowly freezing from the inside-out, Finn found the energy to storm over and slap the Ice King clear across his face. The old man instantly lost his furious expression and his arms dropped harmlessly to his side.

"I-I-I'm not here to k-k-k-kill you, you i-idiot!" Finn exclaimed, quickly bringing his burning hand back the relative safety of his armpit. "Oh… sorry, then." The Ice King replied, rubbing the spot where he'd been slapped. "So… what did you want then?" Finn was about to begin explaining what it was he was seeking before he realized that he was still stuck in a blizzard and on the verge of being turned into a particularly unpleasant popsicle. "M-M-Maybe we can t-t-talk inside?" He requested.

It seemed that the Ice King had finally realized Finn's extreme discomfort, once again remembering that most creatures weren't well suited for the extreme cold. Laughing aloud, he quickly offered an apology. "Oh right, sorry. Grab on tight and I'll have us up in my castle in a jiffy." He then began to beat his beard, slowly lifting him off of the ground, but staying close by Finn. Hesitantly, the Human took hold of the old Wizard's ankles, making very sure to keep his face looking down. As the Ice King began to rapidly ascend towards the top of the mountain, Finn watched as the seemingly endless rock passed by him like a treadmill. He realized that he'd barely put a dent in the distance from the bottom to the top by himself, and if the Ice King hadn't found him than he would've probably… well, that hardly mattered. He'd contacted the Ice King, and hopefully he'd be getting more answers to help him along on his quest.

The two continued to ascend, up through the wind, up through the snow and ice and cold, up into the rapidly thinning air. Finn had his face turned ground-ward, his eyes clenched shut, protecting himself as best as he was able behind his bear hood. Then, everything seemed to come to an eerie calm. Finn cracked his eye and glanced up slightly, then brought his head up fully. The snow and wind had suddenly vanished, and Finn could the edges of the almost red sun taking its last lick at the land before setting completely. He looked back down and noted he could no longer make out the ground; the Ice King had risen up completely beyond the storm clouds, escaping their oppressive reach.

Finn really didn't appreciate just how high the King's domain reached, piercing above the clouds themselves. Finally he could see them approaching the tallest peak in the center of the wasteland, what essentially amounted the King's castle. He had always thought it odd how the entrance to the mountain made it appear as though it had a face.

Finally, they drew close enough to the rock that Finn could release himself, falling slightly and coming to land on the thin, winding path that led up to the entrance. _'Would've been a lot easier if I had just found THIS.'_ He thought, bitterly. Ice King simply landed in front of him and entered his castle through the curiously door-less entrance, Finn following suit.

Although it was not necessarily warm inside the ice castle, for obvious reasons, he was nonetheless thankful to be out of the wind and snow. Still, he continued to rub his hands and breathe against them. "You look like you're about to shake right out of your shoes. Why don't you take a load off and I'll go make some coffee." The Ice King offered before disappearing into the castle interior. Finn took a few steps into the main chamber. He'd become almost uncomfortably familiar with this place throughout the years, mostly from all the times he'd needed to come and rescue Princesses.

Still, the Ice King had become much more… passive in recent days, and subtle changes in his home reflected those changes in his behavior. The most notable change was the fact that the ice cage where he'd once kept his captives was now totally gone. Despite the fact that Finn had never really grown over his distaste for the old man, it did seem almost surreal for him to think that now he was simply an aggravating associate as opposed to an actual 'villain.'

He took a good look around the rest of the room. Everything was carved from ice; everything. He looked to the King's "throne," really just a frozen armchair. Honestly the whole place seemed less like a throne room and more like an under-furnished living room… just, completely made from ice. Walking over towards a side, he sat himself down on an ice couch to await the Ice King's return. He immediately noted that this couch was just as bad, if not worse than the one in Marceline's home, and at least on that one he didn't have to worry about sliding off or freezing his butt solid. _'Why doesn't ANYONE have any decent furniture?!' _He would've simply stood, but his struggle against the blizzard had left him so utterly drained that even the numbing from the ice was better than the burning in his muscles.

While Finn fidgeted uncomfortably on the offending sofa, the Ice King returned holding a steaming mug. "Here we go, fresh coffee. Hope you like it black." Finn in fact despised plain coffee, but he could not help but feel gratitude as soon as the mug's life-giving warmth touched his hands. He raised the cup and let the hot liquid pour down his throat. The bitter taste was every bit as unpleasant as he had been expecting, but just having something to warm him up was so satisfying that he hardly minded the taste at all. While Finn brought himself back to life, the Ice King set about inquiring as to his reason for visiting.

"So Finn, now that neither of our lives are in imminent danger, will you tell me what you were doing out in that weather?" The King asked, standing a little too close to Finn for his comfort. The young man brought the still warm mug away from his lips. He took a deep breath, basking just a bit longer in the warmth he'd just recovered. "I came here to ask you about a problem I'm investigating. Actually… I need your help identifying some magic." The Ice King looked momentarily surprised, but then seemed to look unreasonably pleased with himself.

"You mean it Finn? You need MY help?!" He asked, inappropriately excited. Finn cast an unnerved glance his way, but the old man didn't seem to notice (or care). "Yes, Ice King. I wanted to ask if you'd recognize a certain magical… spell, or ritual or something." The King never lost his gleaming façade. "Well if I can't then there isn't anyone in the world who can. I'm a Grande Tier Wizard you know, so, I'm pretty much the go-to expert for everything magic in Ooo." As disturbing as his mannerisms were, Finn knew he was right in that he probably wouldn't find anyone much more knowledgeable than him, especially given how long he'd been around. "Okay… so here's the story so far."

And just as he had with Marceline, Finn recanted Ice King of his story at the warehouse. "…like some kind of sinister Dyson vacuum. So anyway, that's the long and short of it. I was hoping you might recognize the spell." Finn huffed out, red in the face, taking in quick and shallow breaths. _'Man… really hope that's the last time I have to tell this story.' _As he regained his breath after that lengthy tale, the Ice King leaned back and pondered the details he'd been given.

"Hmmmmm… a dark sphere that sucks in all matter and leaves no trace of destruction…" His brow furled as his eyes narrowed in concentration. Calmed again, Finn waited on the Ice King to deliver his answer. "And you're sure that it didn't leave a single trace of anything except that medallion? No ashes or charred remains? Even any strange odors?" He asked. Finn shrugged in response. "Absolutely nothing. Everything the ball touched was completely destroyed." The King ran a hand down his white beard. "Maybe not destroyed…"

That caught Finn's attention. "What… no, everything was definitely gone. Believe me, you notice when eighty-percent of a three story building just vanishes." The Ice King just shook his head. "Gone, yea, but not necessarily destroyed." As Finn kept his gaze trained in him, he began to pace around the room. "Honestly, I can't think of a single spell, incantation, ritual, or anything that would make a giant black hole like the one you described…" At his admission, Finn felt his stomach drop. He feared he'd just hit a wall in his investigation, feared he'd wasted a massive amount of time and nearly gotten himself killed for nothing.

The Ice King halted and turned back to Finn. "But from the way you described things it doesn't sound like a simple destruction spell. It sounds more like a teleportation spell." Just as quickly as he'd succumbed to frustration, Finn was suddenly focused back on the wizard. "Wait what? Teleportation?" The Ice King nodded emphatically. "Well that's my theory. I mean, to my knowledge there's no spell that can completely destroy all traces of an item. Even the most powerful spells have to leave something; ashes, charcoal, smoke, even just a gas, but something has to be left behind. Something can't just become nothing. So…"

For some reason he trailed off, as though waiting for a cue. Finn, though, did not appreciate him pausing for dramatic effect, and volatilely gestured for him to continue. "…so maybe the black ball didn't destroy the warehouse. Maybe it just got sent it somewhere else." Finn was taken aback; he'd been operating totally convinced that the warehouse and everything (and everyone) inside had been totally annihilated. Now there was the possibility, in fact probability, that everything that had been caught in the blast still existed somewhere else. And that meant those people might still be alive as well.

Suddenly, another idea flashed in Finn's head. "Hey Ice King? If it turns out that the spell really did just teleport everything somewhere else, would it be possible to trace the spell, find out where everything went?" Unfortunately the Ice King shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not so simple, Finn. The only way to tell where a teleportation spell leads is for another wizard to cast something else into the spell, something they can trace, usually some kind of magical charm or totem." Finn set aside his mug, both the coffee and all residual warmth having already been drained. "So you're saying that unless you yourself were actually there, there's no way for me to find out where that spell leads?" The old man nodded. "Pretty much."

Finn felt himself fall back against the frozen couch, totally exasperated. It was starting to feel like every single thread he chased lead to another dead end. No matter what path he took, what turns he made, he never actually made any more progress. The constant, stagnating experience was really starting to get to him. Subconsciously, his hand drew the medal out of his pocket. The Ice King immediately took notice of the glittering item.

"Is that the medallion you told me about?" Finn looked down, noticing for the first time that he had in fact revealed the medal. "Y…Yeah." Finding it odd that he hadn't even noticed taking it out, he nevertheless figured he may as well see if the Ice King could tell him anything about it; although given his recent track record, he wasn't feeling too confident. "I don't suppose you can… I don't know. Identify it? Or something." The King delicately took the necklace from the young man, holding it close in front of his face.

"Ohhhh yea, there's definitely a little magical aura coming from this thing." Finn perked up slightly at that bit of information. "Wait really? Is that the reason it survived… or, didn't get teleported?" The Ice King's face scrunched as he continued to closely examine the bit of metal. "Not necessarily. Just because something's magic doesn't automatically make it immune to all spells." Still, Finn's suspicion had been confirmed, the medal was somehow magically impervious to the black hole. "So then, what kind of magic is inside that thing then?"

Seemingly satisfied with his inspection, the Ice King quickly lobbed the medal back towards Finn, who jerkily clasped caught it between his hands. "Couldn't tell ya, honestly." Finn looked perplexed, as well as a little upset. "Huh, Why?!" He demanded to know. "Because the thing's busted, used up, caput." He stated before pointing towards Finn and the medal. "I mean, you can see plain as day, the thing's obviously broken. Even the metal is half-gone." Finn looked down to the small disc he held in his hand. He'd obviously been aware that the item itself was damaged, but he didn't think that could affect any magical nature it may have had. The Ice King continued. "Whatever magic was in that thing is mostly gone now. There's just a whisper of energy left in that thing, definitely not enough for me to identify."

Finn sat and stared at the defunct item for a moment. He clenched the object tightly in his fist, closed his eyes and took a sharp breath in through his nostrils. In the brief moment of silence he had, he reflected on everything he'd learned so far. He'd found out the spell he'd seen was incredibly powerful, was actually a teleportation spell, and that the medal he'd found had some lingering trace of some spell. _'That's… that's practically nothing!' _Finn had ran down every lead he could think of and now, out of resources, he'd barely learned anything about the event. To say he was upset would be an understatement.

The Ice King again failed to recognize the general mood in the air, and proceeded to prod Finn in a significantly inappropriate manner. "So now that we got all that cleared up, what say we break out a board-game. Oh this is going to be so much fun! I can't remember the last time you came to visit without me having to do anything sinister!" Finn's eyes opened in anger. "Ice King…" He began threateningly, but was quickly cut off by a rapidly growing buzzing sound.

The two turned their attention to the pathway leading into the inner mountain, where the noise was apparently coming from. The low hum grew louder and louder and the floor began to tremble. The noise grew clearer as it closed in, the two now able to recognize the steady stream of 'wenks' pouring out from the inner castle. Suddenly a horde of penguins, possibly the Ice King's entire citizenry, stampeded through the doorway. Finn was baffled, but the Ice King seemed more annoyed than surprised. "Hey, Hey, Hey! What in Glob's name is going on here?!"

As the horde burst out through the main door and out to the mountain side, the Ice King began to wade his way into the thick of the group. He picked up one of the creatures, seemingly at random, just as the last of the majority escaped outside. "Gunther, what are you doing out here! You know you're supposed to stay in your cage when I have company over!" He chastised the animal. 'Gunther' (or whichever of the numerous identical penguins he had grabbed), merely continued to struggle and squeak, as though in a panic. Eventually it loosed itself from the King's grip, and hurried to escape along with the rest of its' brethren.

As he watched the last of his subjects disappear from his castle, the Ice King scratched his head in confusion. "Well that was certainly odd. I wonder what's got them so riled up?" He wondered aloud. Finn too couldn't help but wonder as to their reasoning. "Maybe I'd better go check out the lower levels to be safe." The King muttered as he began to make his way towards the door. Although he seemed to have been forgotten already, Finn decided that he should probably follow the wizard down, not able to help the feeling that something troubling was about to occur. Rising up, he quickly caught up to the King as he began his descent down a grand flight of ice stairs.

After a lengthy trip, the duration of which Finn felt certain that he would slip and tumble all the way to the bottom, the two finally stopped, the stairs having led to the end of a long hallway. The Ice King began to move cautiously down the hall, as though he expected someone to jump out and attack him. Of course, Finn had just a poor idea as to what exactly had spooked all those penguins; that is, until his thoughts lingered back to his meeting with Princess Bubblegum and, more specifically, what Jake had revealed. _'He said he could 'sense' the hole before it appeared. Animals can sense things most people can't. That couldn't mean… oh no.' _

No sooner had Finn stopped dead in his track from his realization that a small black tear opened towards the end of the hall. As Finn stared forward in dread, the Ice King stopped in confusion, raising his eyebrows at the appearance of the phenomena. "Say now, whad'ya suppose that is?" Almost instantly the tear took on the shape of a ball and began expanding. Finn immediately noticed that it was growing MUCH more rapidly than the last one he had seen. "Ice King we have to go." He said, his voice hushed from fear.

Nonplussed, the Ice King casually turned back to Finn while cleaning out his ear. "What was that Finn, you'll have to speak up." As the ball continued to grow, Finn's fear turned to horror, but consequently forced him into a state of motion. "I said…" He began, grabbing the back of the King's robe. "WE NEED TO LEAVE!" And he immediately began pulling the old man back towards the staircase.

After a moment the Ice King got the message, and began to run alongside Finn of his own power. "Wait a sec, Finn?! Is that the same sphere you were talking about?!" He cried out as they ran. "Yes! Now keep running!" The young man exclaimed.

Once they finally made it to the staircase, Finn glanced up in misery. There was no telling how many stories high they ran. "Hey Ice King, do you think… HEY!" But before he could ask his question the wizard had already taken off, flying himself up the multiple levels and leaving Finn behind with the sphere. _'Some friend.' _He thought bitterly as he watched the old man safely escape. But he didn't have time to hold a grudge; looking back he saw a pitch back wall consuming the entire corridor, and there was no telling how much larger the entire thing was already.

With no other options, Finn began a desperate sprint up the stairs. He covered two stories, four, and eight before he could bat an eye, but the top barely seemed to come any closer. A glance down showed the darkness slowly rising up the stairwell, like black waters. While he continued his climb, a massive quake shook the entirety of the mountain and caused Finn to trip. Falling to his hands and knees, he felt everything shake for several long moments. Then, to his horror, he looked downwards and saw the lower stairs begin to crumble, even before the darkness reached them. He realized then that he had even less time to escape, or else he'd surely be caught by the sphere.

Certain his life was on the line, he summoned one last bout of strength and stormed up the stairs. He didn't consider failure or success, he was just desperate to keep moving. He heard the ice and rock all around him begin to crack and shake, and the stairs below crumble into the inky void. And amidst the pounding noises, he saw the stairs above him begin to splinter. A massive chunk broke from the wall and crashed to the stairs directly beneath it, and directly in front of Finn. He had no choice but to stop, just barely able to keep his footing on the slippery surface. The giant obstacle totally blocked his path, and because it was made of solid ice there was no way he'd be able to climb around it.

Had he the time, he would've certainly felt despair at having to come to terms with the fact that he'd soon fall victim to the ball. But he would not have long to dwell on that fact. The stairs had been several weakened from the force of the ice block collapsing atop them. It took only seconds for the trembling of the mountain to completely loosen the rest of the stairs from the wall, and Finn along with them.

He tumbled back through the air, facing straight up to the ceiling. His mind didn't even have the time to catch up to the sensations his body was experiencing, didn't have time to process the terror and sense of defeat he should have felt. But it all happened too quickly for him to follow, and before he could even utter a protest, his vision went dark as he plummeted into the void.

* * *

The Ice King had ascended the stairwell in only a minute, and soon found himself back in the main chamber, catching his breath, exhausted more from the panic than the actual physical exertion. Hands on his knees and breathing heavily, he proclaimed. "Man… hey… you think… we outran it…" But with no response, the Ice King turned his head in confusion. "Finn?" But the human was nowhere in sight. It took a moment for the King to process the obvious. "Ohhhhh, right… Finn can't fly… well, looks like he's gone."

Regardless of his complete lack of concern for Finn, he was still curious as to how much of his castle had just been destroyed by the intruding sphere. He was about to go inspect his home, but as soon as he took a step back towards the stairs, the entire wall gave way as a massive sheet of darkness penetrated into the room. The Ice King screamed in surprise, and quickly kicked himself back into the air, making a beeline for the exit.

Even outside, he continued to put distance between himself and the mountain. Once he felt comfortable enough, he slowed his escape and turned around to witness the destruction. He turned in just in time to see the stone 'face' of his home become enveloped by the black shroud. Nearly the entire mountain was now confined within the solid black ball; only the very tip and base remained free.

Although he should have been horrified, the Ice King found he was only morbidly curious to see just how much the ball would encompass. But he found that the sphere had seemingly ceased its' expansion, becoming eerily calm. He narrowed his eyes, watching, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, the ball began to slowly, slowly recede. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but it rapidly began to pick up speed.

A high-pitched whistle pierced the Ice King's ears, and even as far away as he was he began to feel some force attempt to draw him back towards the ball. At first it was easy enough to resist, but the more the ball shrank the more powerful the vacuum became. Soon the Ice King realized he could not overcome the force, and he was slowly being dragged through the air towards the sphere. He was almost afraid that he too would be swallowed whole, but just as the force was at its' greatest, it stopped.

He looked and saw the ball just as it became nothing more than a speck, and then it vanished altogether. With the suction force dissipated, the Ice King righted himself in the air. He looked to where his castle had once stood, the highest mountain in all of Ooo. Now, the skyline was unimpeded by its stature. All that remained of the mountain was the base, barely taller than the trees of the tundra in which it stood. That itself had been shaped in a caldera, worn silk smooth by whatever force that dark hole wielded.

For perhaps the first time in his life, the Ice King was at a loss for words. His home had just vanished into thin air, and the one person he could (somewhat) call his friend had gone along with it. And he was all too aware that there was absolutely nothing he could do now. "Hmmm. Maybe I should've traced it like Finn said…Oh well, I'll just have to remember for next time. Now then, where did Gunther get to?"


	5. Gray World

Chapter 5: Gray World

* * *

"…!" Finn's eyes snapped open and his mouth gaped. He could feel a scream well deep in his gut, bursting to escape the confines of his body, but no sound escaped him; in fact, he couldn't breathe at all. Nor could he see anything, an utter darkness encompassing his being. He began to twist and jerk in panic, but he could barely move an inch for the small space he'd been crammed into, as though he'd been locked in a chest. Blind, breathless, and bound, he lit up in panic. His heartbeat rocketed out of control and a very quick, indescribably intense sense of fear pierced his mind. It was hardly more than a momentary lapse, but it was the most powerful terror he'd ever experienced, if even for just a second.

All of the sudden, he felt his chest drop and Finn took in a massive gulp of air. He continued to take in huge breaths, refilling his lungs with life-giving oxygen. He calmed significantly once he was able to breathe again, panic subsiding as he realized he'd just gotten the wind knocked out of him. He remained still for many minutes in recovery, both for the sake of his lungs and his brain. Eventually he was able to shake off the lingering trauma he'd just experienced, at least for the most part.

The worst of the experience over (for the time being), Finn knew he had to set about reorienting himself. Wherever he was it was still pitch black, so for the moment Finn wouldn't be able to rely on his sight. He tried to move again, but found he was having quite the difficult time doing so. He'd wound up mostly on his back, slightly propped up against something solid. Slowly moving his arms as much as he could, he felt around his immediate surroundings. Everything felt jagged and angular, less like he'd been trapped in a box and more as though something had collapsed around him.

_'__Well, this isn't great… What'd I even do?... Did a building fall on more or… oh wait…'_ In an instant, memories of prior events rushed back to the forefront of Finn's mind. His trip to the Ice Kingdom, the information he'd gotten from the land's ruler, the castle crumbling as the black ball consumed the entire mountain… and his falling into the hole. _'So… I'm in the hole? No, that's not right.'_ And he recalled the Ice King's theory, of the spell not destroying but transporting everything caught within its' confines.

Bracing himself slightly, he eased pressure onto his right side, relieving his left of a somewhat annoying protuberance. He wiggled his feet, finding that there didn't seem to be anything directly below them. Thinking he might be able to get a little more space to work in, he took hold of the most solid and least dangerous edges he could grasp and slowly started to inch his way toward his feet. Just a few feet down, his legs discovered a slight precipice. He continued to move until his knees hit the ledge, and quickly found that his feet could touch the bottom level. Taking the risk, he brought the rest of his body out of the crevice and into the slightly larger pocket.

Landing in a crouch, he slowly started to rise up, but his head hit stone before his full height. Although it was still a tight space, he did at least have a little more room to maneuver. Going down to a knee, he quickly unslung his backpack and retrieved his flashlight. Flicking it on, he made quick work of checking his immediate surroundings. The space he found himself in was small, the broken ceiling just low enough that he couldn't stand to full height. Somewhat circular yet still oblong, the pocket couldn't have been more than 150 square feet.

Freed from his original location, Finn's thoughts turned to the greater situation he was now embroiled in. _'So… I guess wherever I am is the same place those spheres have taken everything else. That's… good? Well, at least now I might be able to get some answers; like whose the one tossing these things all over the place.'_ He continued to shine the flashlight around, pouring over the crumbled stone and ice that held him prisoner. _'Only problem is there's an entire mountain on top of me.' _

Indeed, from his brief search he appeared to be completely buried in gray stone. Granted, the only light he had to work with was the small beam that emanated from his flashlight, so there was a very limited amount of space he could illuminate at a time. Deciding he might have better luck from a different spot, he leant down onto both knees and began to crawl forward, keeping himself propped on one hand while the other held the flashlight.

As he inched closer to the farthest point, he noted a corner that appeared less densely packed than the other walls. He made his way over, his light aimed on the dark rocks, but not totally caught by them. Once he was close, he found that the stones were only barely holding up, and what's more the seemed to be more empty space beyond them. Grabbing a few nearby stones, he arranged them into a crude holster, and situated his flashlight so that it would continue to illuminate the weak wall.

He sized up the pile of rubble before him. He would absolutely have to remove the blockage if he was to make any sort of progress, but he certainly didn't want to risk compromising the integrity of the mountain. _'Well, I won't get anywhere if I play it safe.' _Throwing caution to the wind, Finn grabbed the centermost rock, about the size of a cinder block, and tugged mightily. It took some force, but he was able to remove the stone in one pull, very nearly falling back with it, but managing to toss it aside. Instantaneously, the top half of the wall collapsed in on itself. Finn quickly raised an arm to his face, but once the noise died he peeked back out.

With the top half now uncovered and the light still shining through, Finn could see into the new room. For a moment he was disappointed to find it was hardly larger than a few square feet. But with nowhere else to turn he grabbed his light and moved over to the now waist-high pile of stone and shone his light around. Although the space itself was no bigger than a large closet, he shined the light upwards and found that the space rose higher than he could see from his position.

He knocked a few more of the top-most rocks down and then stepped over the remainder. In the new pocket, he shone his light directly up. He was mildly relived to find that the crevice lead up some way, offering another possible path to freedom. The thought crossed his mind that it would be much more difficult to climb up an unstable crevice than to crawl through one, especially since he also had to handle a light. He sighed wearily, but he did take some slight solace for just being able to move forward.

Thinking quickly, he again removed his backpack and held it in front of him. Opening the front pocket, he fit the flashlight in, making it as secure as he possibly could. It was not an efficient rig, but he simply would not be able to climb while holding the light himself. Re-slinging his pack, he again looked up to see how his makeshift setup had faired. The light was terribly crooked and shone far too much in one direction while leaving nearly half the tunnel dark, but it was all he had to work with.

Finding a suitable footing, Finn reached up to begin his climb up the tunnel. He gripped the first few outcroppings and began to pull himself upwards with relative ease. He'd ascended a fair bit when an idle thought crossed his mind. The stone he currently gripped was cool, but not frigid, or even really cold, as one would expect of the Ice King's mountain. He found this somewhat odd, especially considering how he'd nearly frozen his hands off during his earlier climb. But he was too focused on making his escape to worry about that minor detail.

The light began to reveal gray stone capping the tunnel. That meant he'd have find another path at the top or else he'd be totally trapped. Not desiring in the least to call this destroyed mountain his tomb, Finn decided to keep his optimism; he was certain he'd find another way out.

Nearly reaching the top, a quick glance revealed yet another crevice he could squeeze into. He released a small breath in relief, and silently thanked the higher powers for rewarding his positive thinking. He gripped the stone edge and brought himself just before the new tunnel. Unfortunately for him, this new tunnel was little more than a rat hole, probably just barely wide enough for him to crawl through, and that's only if he kept his stomach on the stone.

He realized he wouldn't be able to crawl through with his pack on his back, and took a moment to think on he should best proceed. He could fling his pack in before him and push it through the tunnel, but that would essentially block his vision, and he didn't want to risk that at the moment. He supposed he'd have to somehow drag his bag behind him as he made his way. Just setting himself up would require some tricky maneuvering.

Keeping a tight grip on the stone edge, he momentarily let go with his left hand so he could shrug one strap off of his shoulder. Bringing his left hand back, he slowly eased the right strap off of his shoulder, grabbing the bag before it fell down the shaft. Quickly, he hefted the bag up and onto the small ledge. He then removed the flashlight from the small pocket and set it to the side of the ledge so that it continued to illuminate the vertical tunnel. Now would come the tricky part. He grabbed his bag by the strap and lowered his arm just enough so his hand was level with the edge, and then he released his grip. In a split second, his hand was back supporting himself against the ledge and his right foot had shot away from the wall, just in time for the bag to fall and the strap to hook around his foot.

His overly complicated gesture having succeeded, Finn split his focus between keeping his bag balanced and bringing himself into the small tunnel. Placing his palms flat on the stone, he kicked himself up with his left foot and hoisted his weight fully onto his arms. He allowed momentum to carry himself forward and soon lay flat against the stone rough surface. Finding the flashlight by his side, he wiggled a bit so that he might bring it and his hands up in front of his face. The whole time, he kept his knee bent up in the air to keep his bag from escaping. Having finally situated himself, he used his arms to bring his full body and luggage into the tunnel.

Mostly secure, Finn turned his attention to the tunnel before him. Shining the flashlight down, he could see it took an almost immediate turn, blocking his light and essentially making it impossible for him to tell how far it would lead. Regardless, he began to drag himself forward, his arms pulling while his one free leg pushed, and his other retained its' hold on the pack. It was extremely uncomfortable to have to drag himself over the rough and often jagged stones, but he had little choice if he wanted to escape.

Finn pulled himself along what seemed like an endless stretch of tunnel. Twists and turns, inclines and declines, forked paths and dead ends all served to confuse the young man. His stomach was rubbed raw and his arms ached from being forced to pull him over such a great distance. Finally, he'd exhausted himself. His arms went limp and he let his cheek drop to the ever so slightly cool stones. His triceps burned like they'd been injected with acid. _'Man… I'm gonna have such a bad rash after this.' _He attempted to lean to his side to try to alleviate his abdomen a bit.

He looked forward, as far as the beam of light allowed. This particular path seemed to drop down into a slight decline which Finn could not see past. He bellowed in frustration, but knew he couldn't afford to waste time. Reluctantly, he began to crawl again, grinding over the stone like a slug. Eventually he reached the dip.

Before he even had a chance to look down, Finn felt the stone beneath him crack and lurch. He cried out as he plummeted forward. It was a short fall, Finn hitting surface again in less than a foot, however his ride had just started. The tunnel took a nasty drop in elevation, becoming a nearly sixty degree incline, a virtual slide that Finn now had the misfortune of riding down. The flashlight slipped from his hand and he lost track of his bag as he began to grind downwards.

He continued to slide down the entire length, the friction from the stones a hundred times worse with this new speed, and because the tunnel was still so small he couldn't even reorient himself. He shut his eyes and did his best to keep his face from skidding on the rock, taking the brunt with the remainder of his front side. There was no way to tell how far he dropped before the awful ride came to an end. With his eyes shut, and his light gone besides, Finn had no way of sensing the stone cap at the bottom of the slide before his collision.

After a tortuous stretch of stone had nearly ripped him to shreds, he suddenly found himself crashed against a much larger stone at the end of the road. However, instead of stopping his body simply knocked the stone away, and he soon found himself in another short freefall. After bursting through the block, he fell several feet through the air before coming to a crash landing against flat ground. He lay still, curled in a ball and groaning in pain. _'Come oooooonnnn, my luck can't be this bad.' _

Eventually he uncoiled himself, spreading out flat on his back. His sweater was worn threadbare and torn in several spots, he could only think how much worse that could've been without it. He stared straight up into the black nothing while the burning pain spread throughout his skin like a hot iron. His knees had been totally skinned, bloody nubs now barely covering his patella.

He let his head fall to the left and spotted a small dot of light against the wall. He continued to groan out complaints as his legs curled up. He pushed his elbows back and slowly propped himself up. His stomach screamed in pain as it was bent inwards. With as much haste as he could muster he brought himself back to his feet. The good news seemed to be that, aside from some bruising his inner body had largely escaped injury, he'd simply lost a good bit of skin is all.

Shakily, he went over to his flashlight and retrieved it from the floor. It seemed that it didn't escape completely unscathed, the light beam now noticeably less bright. "Great…" Finn muttered to himself. He hit the item against the flat of his hand a few times, but that failed to produce any results. Quietly shelving that minor annoyance, he turned back in the direction he was fairly certain he had fallen from. He shone the light around the floor until it landed on his green backpack, directly beneath the hole he had come from. Walking over, he quickly shouldered the bag, which itself didn't appear any worse for wear.

Fully composed and equipped, Finn began to flick the light around the new room, looking for the next path he'd need to crawl through. That search came much easier this time around, as he soon realized that he wasn't in an actual enclosed space, but a much larger tunnel, opening up directly across from the wall that he'd fallen through. Cautiously, he began to move down the tunnel.

As he trekked further and further, he almost thought he was starting to see his surroundings more clearly. He briefly considered it was just his eyes adjusting to the light, but he soon realized that he could make out something far away at the end of the tunnel; an exit, with just the baring hints of light breaking through another rubble pile. Thinking his escape finally imminent, he couldn't help but let a little relief rush through his system.

The farther he went the more light began to permeate the tunnel. He was able to make out more of the gray stone and… _'Gray stone?'_ Finn suddenly slowed his pace considerably before stopping entirely. He let his light fall on the wall and approached the rock. It suddenly struck him that throughout the entire tunnel system, everything had been a dark gray. That didn't seem to make any sense. Hadn't he been teleported inside of the Ice King's mountain? Everything there was blue; the ice and even the bit of stone had a blue tint throughout the entirety of the fortress.

He then recalled his discovery during his climb. Bringing his hand against the rock, he confirmed again that the stone, while cool, was not the same icy cold that was more befitting of the frozen mountain. Finn didn't know what to make of these revelations. He was certain he would've wound up inside of the ice mountain, wherever that itself had wound up, but his surroundings definitely didn't suggest that he was still within the Ice King's domain.

Although he found it very strange, Finn thought it best to shelve that curiosity for the time being and focus on just getting out of the tunnel. After that, he still had to find out where the black hole had brought him. Turning away from the wall, he began to walk again towards the tunnel's apparent end.

Finally, after his long journey from the center of the mountain wreckage, he reached the stone wall that seemed to be the only thing keeping him from freedom. The tunnel mouth was quite large, and packed tight with large stones. He gazed over the mess, trying to figure out how he'd manage to get past. The smallest rocks seemed to be the closest to the top, so he figured he'd have the best chance to start from up there.

Crawling up onto the largest boulders at the bottom, Finn made his way towards the top of the pile. The stones at the top seemed about as big as his torso, but they'd have to go if he was to make his escape. Grabbing the one that seemed the least structurally crucial, he pulled hard, exerting his full force the heave the rock and whip it away, sending it crashing to the ground. One down, he set his focus on the next most exposed rock.

He continued to lob the rocks away, one by one, slowly but surely chipping down the barrier. Finally, he'd effectively carved a standard door-sized hole into the pile; just one layer remaining between him and the outside. With a great push, he shoved the last few rocks forward, finally clearing his path out. Standing on the edge of the outer world, Finn now had a clear view of the place where he'd been taken, and what he saw absolutely baffled him.

He gazed onto the horizon, almost in disbelief. All he could see, from the land just below him to the farthest edge of his gaze, was utter nothingness. All that lay before him was a flat, gray expanse; endless and almost entirely uninterrupted, save for the odd stone outcropping here and there. The land alone would've been enough to stun him, but looking skyward only served to further his incredulity. As with the land, the sky itself was a ceaseless expanse of gray, but clearly distinct from the earth.

No clouds filled the empty space, no birds flew through the void, there didn't even seem to be a breeze to fill the silence. The only discrepancy was a gradated white spot low in the sky; a pseudo sun of sorts that seemed simply… wrong in its' purpose. Finn felt as though it wasn't there to bring light to the land, only to reveal shadows.

Finn shivered from the base of spine to his cranium, and certainly not because of the cold. In fact, he couldn't even call this land cold in the proper sense. The air itself also felt wrong. It would not be right to say it was obviously cool, or even to say that there was a lack of warmth. It seemed better to say that there was a lack of temperature, period. Finn felt a mild sensation, something akin to nausea, like his body itself was aware of how wrong this land was. This land, completely devoid of warmth… devoid of color… and devoid of life.

It was unsettling, to say the absolute least. Finn understood this, but if anything this only served to strengthen his desire to find the one who brought him here, put him down, and escape; in other words, the standard hero shctick. Stepping to the edge of the stone barrier, he peered down. It seemed he'd come out somewhere close to the bottom of the mountain, but he was still a decent ways above the ground. Cautiously, he started to jump down from rock to rock, aiming for the ones that seemed the most stable. Luckily, getting down a mountain proved much easier than climbing up one, and he soon found himself on the ground. Curiously, he noted that the surface, which he had assumed to be solid rock from his perch, was in fact mostly gravel. But that hardly meant anything for the time being, so he quickly set out, trekking away from the mountain, his feet crunching with every step he took.

A short ways away he cautioned a glance back. Turning back to gaze on what had so recently been the grandest mountain in Ooo, he was saddened, but not exactly surprised to see its' current state. The entire cap had collapsed inwards on itself, something that probably proved true throughout the entirety of the hollowed mountain. Now the summit more resembled a dead volcano, sunken in, cracked and broken along the entirety of its' outer shell. He shook his head before turning away and again setting off in the opposite direction.

It occurred to Finn that he had absolutely zero idea where he was heading, or even what he was supposed to be looking for. Just from his quick glance from the mountain, there wasn't any sort of structure or landmark he could possibly be heading for. He momentarily thought he maybe should have circled the mountain, just to see if there was something, ANYTHING out in the wasteland he could investigate.

Finn's mind went quiet in the wake of the utter lack of external stimulus, and his hand found itself snaking into his pocket. He was surprised to feel it brush up against smooth metal. Quickly retrieving his hand, he soon found that it was the medal that he'd discovered. He was confused, as he couldn't recall placing it there. His confusion only grew as the implications dawned on him.

The one thing that he knew for certain was that the medal was the one thing that resisted the spell, so why was it that he now found himself in possession of it after having himself being caught in the black hole? Wouldn't it have simply been left behind again, or maybe kept him from disappearing?

He let the body drop from his palm, the chains slipping through his fingers before he caught it at the end. It was then he noted something stranger still. He brought the medal up close to his face and held it perfectly still. It was just barely visible, but Finn was certain he could just make out the slightest hint of an ethereal white fog shimmering about the medal. What's more, instead of being dragged down directly toward the earth, the medal was angled ever so slightly away, as though a separate force were pulling on it.

_'__I don't get it. Ice King said that the magic was totally drained from this thing, but something's definitely happening here. Is it… because we got teleported? Did it react to the spell, or maybe this place?' _Questions and theories abounded in Finn's head, none of which he was likely to be answered soon. _'Well, it's pulling me somewhere. Guess following it is better than just walking aimlessly.' _Settling on his new course of action, Finn turned on his heel, facing the same way the medal was drawing him. He again began to travel, allowing the medal to guide him.

He kept the medal out, but kept his eyes mainly on the land before him. Even though there was practically nothing to watch for, he wouldn't possibly be able to rid himself of the uneasy feeling this place gave him, and as a result he couldn't bring himself to lower his guard. Periodically he raised the medal again to assure that he continued to follow on the path it had chosen. Sometime later, he began to think that the glow was becoming more intense, and the pull on the medal seemed to grow stronger too. He decided to take that as a good sign.

Before too long, the glow was quite intense and the medal was almost completely horizontal. He looked down just briefly to check his direction, and as soon as he looked back up he was stunned to find that there were several large stone outcroppings before him. He stopped in his tracks, positive that he had not noticed them before now. He again looked to the medal, now almost quivering with energy. He could only guess that whatever he'd been lead to was close, probably right behind those rocky hills.

To be safe he pocketed the medal before continuing, not wanting its' brilliant light to reveal him lest something else be found beyond the stones. Slowly, he began to make his way to the tall stones, moving as softly as he could to minimize the noise he made in the gravel. The stones were almost like thick pillars and spikes, arranged as though to form a crude fence. Coming upon the stone, he took hold and began to climb up the conical form so that he might get a good look while still keeping himself out of sight. He reached a nice ledge he could stand from, and poked his head out past the wall. If he'd been stunned before, now he was speechless.

The area before him was unlike anything he'd been expecting to find in this wasteland. At first he thought he was looking at some manner of sanctuary. Although there were no walls, windows, ceilings, or steeples, there were rows, many, many rows of bone-white stone benches. The sheer amount was almost comical, the length could've rivaled a football field, and all completely confined within a ring of similar stone stalagmites. He was situated far down, almost at the right end, and could hardly see what lay at the opposite side.

However, something far more present drew his immediate attention. Directly on his right was a massive statue, situated just behind the benches and right on the edge of the stone fence. It too was comprised of the same bleach-white stone as everything else, and looked to stand at least five stories high. Finn could tell that it seemed to be some manner of humanoid, seemingly garbed in a white robe. Unfortunately, it was actually rather degraded, and many features seemed worn away. The face was completely worn away, and Finn was unable even to tell if it was a male or female depicted. It had one long arm reaching out and up from its' right side, but the hand was missing. The entire left arm was missing as well, and across its' entire form were a multitude of cracks and chips.

Once the grandeur had worn off, Finn decided he should probably investigate the other side. Seeing no one in sight, he cautioned pulling the medal back out. It seemed to be pointing slightly towards the other end, but he almost thought the thing was moving. He didn't dwell on it long though, quickly pocketing the item once again. Deciding to keep playing it safe, he elected to move along the outside of the stone pillars and try to remain hidden. Hopping from pillar to pillar, he swiftly clambered along the outside of the fence, quickly making his way to the far end.

Once he'd nearly reached the other end, he slowed himself down, and again peered around to scan the area. Instantly, his attention was drawn to the very end. At the head of the mass rows of seats was a rather simple stone table, atop which sat two dark metal-looking objects, like small ziggurats. But of infinitely more concern was the figure hunched over the table. It wore an impossibly black cloak that simultaneously seemed to radiate different shades of darkness. Finn immediately knew that he had to be the one behind the attacks in Ooo.

Casting aside all caution, Finn catapulted himself down from the stone, intent on rushing the mystery figure and beating it into submission. However, his focus was drawn away from the black figure. Clear across the way, on the opposite wall, a third figure had just entered the arena. Time seemed to slow as his gaze fell on the newcomer, whose blue and white visage stood in stark contrast to the colorless palette of the world against which they stood. And then his eyes connected with the stranger's, and even from so far he could tell they stood out like two brilliant sapphires in the bone-white stone of this land. Everything else left his mind in that brief moment of connection, throughout which he felt more vulnerable than held ever felt in his life; vulnerable, yet oddly not endangered.

And then reality came crashing back into him as they each hit the ground with a loud 'crunch.' Out of the corner of his eye, Finn noticed the black figure turn and instantly notice him and the third figure. Although still a fair bit away, he just barely heard the figure exclaim, "What?... How did you get here?" But he would have no time to respond, as the figure immediately brought its' arms up, creating two dark spheres, identical to the others he'd seen but on a much smaller scale. The balls shot out from the man, one heading towards him and the other to the third figure. He didn't have the time to move, defend, or even cry out, and just as before, the moment the black ball touched him his vision went dark,


	6. Another Side

"Another Side"

* * *

"… hey… wa… p…" A very soft voice began to pierce through the haze of unconsciousness. It was almost nonexistent, and came so weakly it was by no means unreasonable to believe it a hallucination. But then the voice began to get just barely clearer, louder. "C'mon… gotta wake up…" The body before the speaker began to twitch, its' face contorting in discomfort, as though in objection to the idea of awakening. But even so, it showed that there was something going on inside their head, and that meant that they could be woken.

"C'mon honey, I know you can hear me. Please, you just have to wake up!" The voice was much louder now, almost screaming, almost recognizable. And then there was an elating sensation, like something rising from the bottom of the ocean to burst through the water's surface. Blackness rapidly began to fade, light returning. The body came alive, physical sensations reconnecting to the nervous center; a sense of presence was returning. Finally, the body's eyes were slowly drawn open, gleaming sapphire gems catching the light in their revelation. Shapes and colors began to solidify as the mind fully awakened, and the one that had been shouting was finally given a form; one that was instantly recognized.

"Mmmmmm… morning Cake." The young woman said, as though she had merely just awoken from a good night's sleep. Much to her surprise, she suddenly felt herself entangled in several fuzzy limbs as the Cat wrapped her arms around her like several lengths of rope, effectively capturing her in a chest-crushing hug. She could feel Cake nearly crying into her shoulder. "Oh!... Oh thank goodness, Fionna! I wasn't sure if you'd be ok after what happened!" The feline brokenly sobbed into the young woman's ear, in relief she supposed, although it was rather hard to tell just from listening to her.

"Right, right. That… thing, uh… what happened again?" The girl asked, confusion evident in her voice. Now more present of mind, she also noticed for the first time that she had awoken outside for some reason, just outside of their Treehouse actually. At her question, she could feel Cake unwind her arms from around her body before leaning back, keeping her hands on the girl's shoulders. Her eyes glistened with the faintest hint of tears, but now she gave the girl a look of annoyance.

"Oh for the love of… are you serious right now girl?! After you gave me that scare with that horror-show of an entrance, and you don't even remember what happened?!" Cake chastised Fionna, the human girl noting the tone that her sister had taken on; the one that always arose in response to a display of sheer stupidity or ignorance. But after seeing the sheepish demeanor Fionna adopted at her outburst, Cake softened slightly.

"Sweetie, you… you fell out of one of those black holes." Fionna could only give the Cat a blank stare as she attempted to process what she'd just been told. But instead of freaking out, or showing any sort of surprise that Cake had been expecting, she merely gave a look of simple realization, like she had just remembered where it was she had left her hat after losing it. And from Fionna's perspective, it made perfect sense that she'd been dropped here by the black sphere; at least, it did once memories of recent events found their way back into her head.

"Oh… that's good then." Fionna remarked, almost optimistically. Cake stared at her as though she'd gone insane. "Good? You think it's a 'GOOD' thing that you just got spit out by one of those floating garbage disposals!" She was obviously baffled by how Fionna almost seemed happy that she'd been swallowed by the dark force. But the human girl could only feel a massive relief at the discovery that the ball had actually sent her home. Considering what could've happened to her, being expelled from that strange place was practically a reward.

Ignoring her nagging sister for the moment, Fionna attempted to right herself. She managed to sit up, but soon found that her body was incredibly weary, every muscle fatigued. She let out a tired puff in exertion, finding it was unreasonably difficult just to keep herself propped up like this. Seeing her struggle, Cake moved behind the human girl, enlarging her soft body and supporting Fionna like an overstuffed pillow. Leaning back into the mushy form, Fionna sighed in relief. "Thanks Cake. I guess that trip really brought me down, huh?"

Cake was really only worried for a moment, but the girl sounded more or less fine, simply tired. She supposed she was starting to feel a little relived now that Fionna was back, awake, and seemingly in one piece. Still, there were many questions eating away at the Cat that she was intending to get answers to. But that could wait for at least a little while. Right now she figured she may as well get the young woman inside and comfortably situated; then she could explain herself.

"Come on Fionna. Let's get you inside and I'll make you some tea." Morphing her body to roughly Fionna's proportions, Cake brought herself under the girl's left arm, and gently helped her to her feet. The human's knees trembled, but with Cake supporting most of her weight she felt she'd be able to make at inside at least. "Fine. Just… anything except chamomile. Blech" She emphasized by sticking her tongue out.

Slowly walking her charge towards the front entrance of the Tree Fort, Cake responded in mild shock. "What? Since when don't you like chamomile, I thought it was your favorite? You drink it all the time" Fionna released a mildly sarcastic chuckle. "I drink it 'all the time' because that's all you ever make." Cake attempted to feign a hurt persona. "Well fine then. You can just make it yourself and drink all the flavors you want." But Fionna knew her far too well to fall for that, and merely replied rather snobbishly. "Awww c'mon. You know I have a crippling fear of teakettles."

Though she couldn't see, the Cat grew a wide, accusatory grin. "Oh yeah. And you got that after you got 'trapped' in that cellar with Hot Water Prince, right?" Fionna had to shake her head in disgust. "Please. Don't bring that up again."

* * *

A short while later Cake had situated her little sister comfortably on a couch, with a nice big blanket wrapped over her shoulders, and was now just coming to hand her a steaming cup of tea. "And here we are. Some nice mint tea for my picky little sister." Fionna merely scoffed off the quick jab that Cake had thrown. "And thank you so much dear sister of mine." She replied with playful sarcasm.

As the young woman took a tentative sip at her tea, Cake took the opportunity to crawl up onto her lap, curling up in a soft little ball. After a few moments in silence, the Cat decided to see about getting some answers out of the girl. "So. Are you going to tell me what exactly you've been up to right away, or am I going to have to drag it out of you over a lengthy period of nagging?" She asked calmly.

Holding her cup just below her chin, Fionna readily conceded, having never actually planned to not tell Cake. "Sure, sure. It's not like I was actually trying to hide anything, it's just… hard to decide where to start, exactly." The cat crooked her neck, pointing her face slightly up towards the girl. "We'll, you could start with why it was that the Ice Queen came here and tried to make a sculpture out of me."

At that, Fionna choked slightly on her drink, obviously shocked. "Mind running that by me again?" She said, just shy of accusingly. "Well, this happened a good while after you left, and I assume after you went to the Ice Kingdom."

* * *

It was well past the twilight hour, yet just shy of the time when the light completely left the land; the time when one could just barely see in shades of gray-blue. The storm-clouds that had hung overhead for the entire day had just about dissipated, without ever even releasing the briefest shower. Cake had been hoping for at least little rain, otherwise she'd have to water her garden herself. Instead, the day had been wasted under the threat of storm, and not even the slightest good came of it. So she'd resigned herself, and had just left the safety of her dwelling when she noticed something flying towards her, high in the air.

As the blur raced towards her, Cake had only a moment to realize it was in fact the Ice Queen before she pounded the ground, hardly twenty feet away. A cold shockwave hit Cake as the Queen hit the ground, forcing her to stumble back a few steps. As soon as she'd regained her composure, the Cat quickly set her focus on the offending monarch, and was almost startled to see a look or sheer rage on the blue woman's face.

Before Cake had any chance to question her, the Queen was screaming in her direction. "Where is that GIRL?!" At first Cake had felt more agitated than anything; dealing with the Ice Queen rarely ever turned out pleasantly, or even civilly. But seeing her as she was now, Cake was almost frightened. It was not often the Queen appeared this way, but she looked positively dangerous. Her solid white eyes pierced like icy daggers at the cat, her mouth was bent in a vile scowl, razor-sharp fangs almost trembling, like ready to tear out her throat at a moment's notice. Even the way she carried herself, hovering just above the ground, just barely leaning forward, arms to her side, crackling with blue lighting; she was certainly poised to fight.

As Cake was momentarily stunned, she failed to respond soon enough for the Ice Queen's liking. In a menacing display, she screamed in rage and sent bolts of lightning down to the ground below her, simultaneously disintegrating the grass and leaving a frozen layer on the scorched earth. As Cake flinched back, the Queen again screamed at her, "I asked you, WHERE IS THE GIRL!"

At that moment, a bout of realization crashed into Cake. She was able to brush off her fear as her sororal instincts surfaced; this madwoman was threatening her sister, and Cake would never, EVER allow that, much less allow anything to keep her from protecting Fionna. The Cat straightened her back, standing firm against the raving witch. She glared back at the Queen, meeting her anger with fierce determination.

"I don't know what you want from Fionna, but I will NOT let you anywhere close to her if you're just here to hurt her." The Cat shouted back at the lunatic woman. The Queen had made it abundantly clear that she was not there to argue rhetoric, and as the Feline stood defiantly against her she lost all composure. Her face contorting even further in blind fury, the Queen was suddenly speeding towards Cake, hands aglow with blue sparks.

Cake did not feel she'd be able to move fast enough to dodge the attack, so instead she braced herself for the impact. The moment the Queen was in her face, Cake shot her arms up, clamping on the older woman's wrists, making absolutely sure that menacing energy didn't touch her body. Unfortunately that did nothing to dampen the Queen's momentum, and though her wrists had been snagged she still slammed full force into the Cat, their craniums slamming together.

The two went hurtling backwards, Cake falling back towards the earth and the Queen completely flipping over her in the air, falling down and skidding several feet away. Each of their heads had been rattled, and both were forced to take a moment on the ground, waiting for their eyes to stop spinning.

The Ice Queen was the first to stumble back to her feet. She could barely stand straight, gravity felt as though it was constantly shifting direction and she was constantly wobbling about. But she saw the Cat in the corner of her eye, and her anger was a far more compelling force than her concussion. She hobbled over to her downed opponent, who appeared even more dazed than she was. Looming over the fuzzy form, the Queen had no thoughts in her head beyond a murderous intent. It took an incredible amount of will to focus through the haze, but still the witch managed to channel her magic. She held out her right hand, and ice began to condense around it, forming a long, thin instrument.

Cake's eyes cleared just fast enough to recognize the Ice Queen standing over her, and deadly-looking ice-blue rapier in her hand, poised to strike down at her. As she brought the whip-thin blade down, Cake had just enough presence of mind to know she had to avoid it. Molding her body into a small ball, she rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the needle-like sword piercing the ground. She rolled directly underneath the wicked monarch, and in the moment she had before the Queen could recover, Cake struck out.

Lighting fast, she reformed her body. Her upper body regained its' standard form while her lower body formed a tightly wound coil. Just as the Queen was about the strike back, Cake launched herself upwards with incredible force. As the Ice Queen had bent over, Cake's spring-enhanced body smashed into her at point blank, but she continued to move even though they'd collided. The stored energy was so great, Cake wound up launching both herself and the queen high into the air.

The Cat could just barely make out the older woman coughing in pain as they rose up in the air. At the apex, nearly to the full height of the Tree Fort, Cake was latched onto the Queen, who had mostly recovered from the blow. But instead of the expected plummet back to the earth, Cake noticed that they were not falling straight down, almost floating really and at an angle towards the Tree Fort.

As it happened, the Ice Queen had momentarily regained control, and was keeping the two of them from succumbing to the full force of gravity. Angling her head down, the Queen shot the Cat another threating glare. She brought her hands up, again sparking with deadly energy. But Cake quickly saw through her, and reached out to again capture her arms before she could zap her.

As the witch snarled and struggled to wrench her arms free, Cake was keeping ahead of the game. The Cat elongated her limbs, coiling them around the Queen's arms like serpents in order to keep a tighter restraint on her. At the same time, she grew two additional arms from her body, just under the junction of her main arms. As the icy monarch was now effectively defenseless, Cake let less a devastating series of blows to the woman's unguarded midsection.

Having no chance to protect herself, the Ice Queen absorbed every punch, gasping out in pain as every blow landed. The lighting slowly died away from her hands, and Cake could feel the tension slacken in her arms. Even her furious expression began to wane, giving way to pain and exhaustion. Her eyes became half-lidded, and Cake soon after noted a sinking feeling; apparently her focus had been shattered enough that she could no longer maintain flight, and the both of them were now falling back to the earth unimpeded.

Cake had time to brace herself, but the Queen had no such chance. As such, when they hit the ground the witch took the full brunt of the force, landing flat on her back. Cake had the good fortune of having a slight cushion when she hit the ground; a less fortuitous circumstance for the Queen, who not only collided at terminal velocity with solid dirt but was also simultaneously crushed by the small mammal that had fallen atop her.

Though shaken a bit, Cake was essentially altogether in one piece, and was able to collect herself fairly quickly after touchdown. Rolling off of the battered body beneath her, she rose to her feet without too much difficulty, and cast her gaze down on the madwoman who had so brutishly attacked her. Although she wasn't quite unconscious, it was obvious that the Ice Queen was in quite rough shape after their little altercation. Her eyes were barely open, and she was breathing in ragged, uneven gasps. It appeared she was totally incapacitated for the moment.

Nevertheless, Cake knew better than to treat the Ice Queen with anything less than caution. Taking a step towards her head, Cake kicked the tiara away from the woman's head, severing the power source of her magic. Walking around to stand at the witch's feet, Cake quickly, yet gently, extended her arms out, tightly wrapping up the Queen's arms and chest in an impromptu straightjacket, and delicately eased her up into a sitting position.

The Queen's expression still seemed somewhat dazed, but she was still lucid enough to match the Cat's glare. Although Cake noted that the clear-cut murderous intent was gone from her face, there was still an open air of hostility about her, but this seemed more in line with her usual attitude. Whether that was due to the bodily trauma, or simple exhaustion, or just the excess insanity having worn off, Cake didn't really care; the woman seemed subdued now, and that was what mattered.

With the intensity of the moment having died down, Cake released an exasperated sigh. "Ok… now that that's over, do you mind telling me what's got you madder than a hornet's nest?" At her question, a death glare momentarily crossed the Queen's eyes, but a discouraging glance from the Cat let her know that she shouldn't try and act out again. Glancing slightly off to the side, the witch settled for a restrained growl.

"I'm gonna crystalize that little girl as soon as I get my hands on her." The Ice Queen muttered under her breath. That, however, did not keep Cake from catching what she'd said. "What was that?" The Cat threatened. The older woman kept her silence, as well as kept her eyes away from the Cat's. She was certainly trying Cake's patience. Although her temper was quickly running thin, Cake held back, more intent on getting answers than putting the Queen in her place. "Alright, I'll bite. What did Fionna do to you that was so awful?"

Turning her head back, the Ice Queen again met Cake's eyes, staring into them accusingly. "That little…" A quick flash from Cake quickly made the Ice Queen reconsider the choice words she had been about to use. "…girl… destroyed my home!" While the Queen frothed at the mouth, Cake gave her a look of sheer confusion. "Say what now? You'd best start from the beginning honey."

Despite her general antagonism, the Ice Queen nevertheless began to speak, oddly enough almost excitedly. "Everything started when that accursed girl intruded in my domain. Sure, she may have acted all innocent with those insolent questions she kept asking. Some nonsense about magic that she had absolutely no knowledge about. And then after I set her straight she started waving that stupid amulet in my face. I don't know what she was expecting it to do, but the piece of trash was effectively drained. And after that, after I gave my time, tolerating her and her ilk…"

The Ice Queen went silent for a moment. A dark look flashed in her eyes, but unlike before they didn't betray anger, rather it almost seemed more like… fear. "Then that… thing opened up." Cake was all but rattling with anticipation. "What thing?" The Queen had to shake her head slightly, as though still in disbelief of whatever had transpired. "That… black hole. The thing I can only presume is what that little girl kept droning on about. It just appeared and in an instant it swallowed my entire mountain!"

But Cake had shut her out halfway through her tirade. "Hold on, take it back a few steps Queenie. A black ball appeared in your mountain… WHILE FIONNA WAS THERE!" The Ice Queen either did not grasp the severity of her expression or held little concern for the human girl. "Of course she was there when it happened! Why else would that thing have destroyed my home if she weren't involved?!"

The cat became instantly furious at the witch's insinuation. "Woman you best not be suggesting that Fionna had anything to do with that thing blowing up in your face." The Queen appeared as smug as she was defiant. "Obviously it was her fault. Even if she didn't bring it there herself she was still dealing with dangerous magic she had no idea how to control. If she hadn't come to my castle it wouldn't have been taken away!"

Cake appeared dumbfounded; could the Ice Queen really be convinced that Fionna was the cause of these black holes appearing? But a far more immediate problem took precedence in her mind. "SO WHERE'S FIONNA NOW?!" She screamed at the older woman. She returned with a scowl of her own. "How in Glob's name should I know? She's the one that brought that wretched energy to my lair, not me. I had assumed she came back to this disgusting hovel after succeeding in destroying everything I owned."

Cake seemed to have been thrown in a state of shock. Her face set in terrified disbelief, and her arms slowly withdrew from her captive; although, even as she was now free, the Queen simply readjusted herself and remained seated before the Cat. "Fionna never came home…" She said, almost inaudibly. "Hmm, then I guess she must've been caught in that ball. Guess I assumed wrong." The Queen said, sounding remarkably unconcerned and not in the least bit apologetic.

Cake's legs failed her as realization set in, and she fell back like the Queen. "She's… gone?..." Tears began to well in her eyes as she kept them glued on the ground, no longer able to bear meeting the Ice Queen's. Seeing the total shift in the Cat's demeanor, and finally drawing the correct conclusion, the Queen couldn't help but release a humorless cackle. "Hah! You two nitwits really are the same, aren't' you? You always jump to the wrong conclusion." She said, missing the obvious irony.

Cake turned her head back up to the Queen, looking for all the world like death. The witch blew off her glare, continuing as though she were lecturing a schoolchild. "As I already explained to that thickheaded girl, that spell didn't _destroy_ anything. It was a teleportation spell." Cake's façade didn't immediately brighten, but a notable amount of the sheer despair gave way to cautious confusion. "Hu…Huh?"

The Ice Queen gave an annoyed 'tch', turning her head away in mockery. "Honestly, it's a wonder you two manage to live on your own. Don't you get it? Your brat didn't die, she just got whisked off somewhere else. I'd say good riddance if it wasn't for the fact that whatever took her took my house along with her."

Cake was no longer sure how to process any of the information she was receiving. Should she respond with relief knowing that Fionna at least wasn't outright killed, or with panic for still not knowing anything else about what had happened to her? Not knowing what else she could do, she looked pleadingly towards the Ice Queen. "So… so what exactly can I do?" The Queen, however, had no sympathy to show towards the distraught Cat. "How should I know? Why do I have to keep explaining to you idiots; I'm not a miracle worker. I can't just snap my fingers and instantly know where that ball transported my mountain. Whatever that girl got herself into, she'll have to deal with herself." She spat out as she stood from the ground.

With a huff, the Queen crossed her arms and fully turned away from Cake. Surprisingly, for all her panic only a moment ago, Cake seemed to be adjusting herself rather well. As the knowledge that the Ice Queen had so reluctantly given began to sink in, so too did an odd sense of calm. The most important thing that the Cat had learned was that Fionna had merely been teleported somewhere unknown, but was presumably still alive. And if she were alive then she should probably be able to sort things out on her own; she was still the greatest hero in Ooo, after all. Loathe as she was to accept it, all Cake could really do was wait for Fionna to return.

Mind easing somewhat in the wake of that hope, Cake began to recede from the dwelling of her mind, turning her attention back to the world at large. She noticed the Ice Queen had turned away. Leaning down, it became evident that she had simply moved to retrieve her magical tiara that had been left on the ground. Brushing it off, she quickly placed it back atop her head.

Not really knowing what else to expect from the deranged woman that night, Cake stood back up and spoke to her. "So… What exactly do you plan to do now?" Giving her a clearly annoyed, but no longer truly hostile, look the Queen replied. "What do you think? I'm going to find somewhere to stay while my home is restored."

Even though she was no longer being openly assaulted, Cake was becoming quite sick of the older woman's attitude. Even so, as loathsome as the hag was, Cake wasn't the sort to let a grudge cause her to become a heartless person. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she shut her eyes with a heavily reluctant sigh. _'I can't believe I'm even about to say this.' _"Look, if… if you really need a place to stay while you… fix your home or whatever… I guess I can let you stay here for a while."

The Ice Queen stared at the Cat, dumfounded. Far too soon, however, she erupted in a cacophonous, mocking laughter. She cried out in hysterics for an uncomfortably long time, the entire time Cake stared at her with a barely contained anger. Eventually, the icy matron began regain some control, choking out a few last fits of laughter as her breathing returned to normal. "Ahah…Ahah… ohhh that was truly rich." She said, wiping tears from her eyes. "There is not a CHANCE in the world that I would EVER be seen taking charity from you. Not in a thousand years!"

With a parting derisive laugh, the Queen turned away, lifting herself into the air and began to fly off back towards her ruined kingdom. Cake could only look after her, fuming. "The nerve of her! Last time I ever try to act nice for her sake." Shaking her head, Cake began her own return, withdrawing back into the confines of her house where she could better think over the growing situation. No real revelations would come to her until Fionna's abrupt return…

* * *

"Wow… sorry about that. Guess that was mostly my fault, huh?" Fionna said sheepishly, her sister having finished recounting her recent run-in with her mortal nemesis. "Oh hush now child. It's not any fault of yours that that woman is as loony as they come." Despite that, Fionna couldn't help but feel some slight guilt for causing that unpleasant encounter. Still, it wasn't like Cake was terribly hurt in that scuffle; what she really felt bad for was disappearing on her without a trace.

Having finished her beverage during the story, Fionna set her mug on the table beside her. Her hands having nothing else to do, she laid them down on the fuzzy form currently occupying her lap, absentmindedly stroking, likely more a comfort to her than the recipient. The girl remained silent for a moment, showing no intention of speaking freely. This came as a minor annoyance to Cake, who was still waiting to hear the other half of the Human's story, the part that happened after she disappeared.

"So now that we've got that out of the way, will you please tell me what happened after the Ice Kingdom got… taken?" Coming out of her pitiful daze, Fionna realized she was still keeping her sister waiting. "Right, right, sorry. Well like the Ice Queen said, I did get sucked in by that black ball. The entire mountain collapsed down on top of me, and I really had no chance of escaping."

Fionna could feel the Cat tremble in her hands. "…What was it like?" Cake asked quietly. Fionna had to ponder that for a second. "Honestly, not as scary as you'd think. I mean, yah, not knowing what was going to happen to me was terrifying. But really, it was just like blacking out, or getting anesthesia or something. It was when I woke up that everything got weird…"

Fionna proceeded to tell Cake of her experience in the strange land, which she had unkindly taken to calling the 'Gray World.' She spoke of her escape from the collapsed mountain, her seemingly endless trek through the wasteland, and her discovery of the odd arena-like structure. She did her best to convey the odd phenomena of the land; how it seemed to be not just lifeless but utterly still, and how distance and direction, or at least her perception, seemed to be somehow warped. Her story culminated with her discovery of the robed individual, who upon discovering her immediately cast a spell that seemingly did nothing more than send her back home.

"Wow. I didn't know what exactly to expect, but still… wow." Cake said as she struggled to make sense of the very strange story she'd just been told. "I know. And the worst part is we're back to square one." Fionna replied, dejectedly. At that comment, Cake turned and gave her sister a funny look. "What do you mean 'back to square one'? Do you really not realize how good this turned out?!"

Now was the young girls turn to appear incredulous. "Are you kidding me?! That entire experience was awful and I didn't learn a thing. We still don't know how that guy's magic works, or why he's even doing this in the first place. Most importantly, we don't have a clue how to stop him!" But Cake merely shook her head, like Fionna had just given a wrong answer in front of the class. "That's not true. We learned that there's at least one person causing this, and not just a natural circumstance. We learned that it is magic, which means there has to be some sort of counter-magic we can use against him. And most importantly, we learned that you won't die just by getting sucked in."

Fionna shifted nervously at Cake's optimism. Although she'd told her all the major events, the Human did leave out a few facts, such as the medal. She said nothing about it save for the fact that the Ice Queen had called it 'worthless', which included omitting the part about it glowing and guiding her to the 'arena'. More to the point, she didn't voice her theory that it was only because of the medal that she survived that black hole.

Needing to keep Cake safe without suspicion, she created an excuse. "That might be… but I still think we should avoid getting sucked in again by any means necessary. I mean, it was sheer luck I found that guy and even more luck that he just teleported me back here. If I hadn't found him I'd have no clue how to get back. Not to mention I didn't see so much as a bug or a stream there. If I were stuck there for even a few days without my own supplies, I don't think it'd be possible to survive. I'm lucky I was just there a few hours."

Once again Cake turned around, but this time it was to cast Fionna a look like she was babbling incoherently. "What do you mean 'a few hours'? Sweetie, you were gone three days." Fionna retuned her gaze with an equally stupid one. "What? Definitely not. I mean, it's not like I had a surefire way to tell time there, but I certainly wasn't gone for a day, let alone three."

The two stared at each other, both confounded by what the other was saying. Fionna was the first to speak up. "I guess… it's possible that time doesn't flow the same there as it does here." Cake slowly nodded her head. "And that would prove that wherever you were, it definitely wasn't Ooo." Fionna cast her gaze away, again absentmindedly stroking Cake's fur. Ever since waking up home she'd been constantly reminded of how astronomically fortunate it was that she'd wound up back in her right place after everything that had happened.

Cake may have been thinking along similar lines, as she seemed rather eager to put everything in the past. "Well, what matters most is you're back here, safe and in one piece. We can plan out or next move in the morning, but right now let's just decompress." The Cat said softly, closing her eyes at the end. "Sounds good to me." Fionna agreed. Even though Cake had a longer time to worry, the girl had plenty to dwell on with everything she'd just been through.

Resting her eyes for a moment, Fionna's thoughts drifted back to the Gray World. Specifically, they dwelt on the one other thing that she'd neglected to mention to her sister. Despite everything else obviously being a much more critical issue, the one thing at the forefront of her mind was the other stranger that she'd seen just seconds before being tossed out of the wasteland.

Their eyes had met for only a moment, but it was a moment so thoroughly ingrained in her head that it may as well have been driven in like a nail. The eyes that had met her own, crystal blue and indescribably vivid, had so captivated her that her heart skipped a beat just in memory of them; and Glob could only say how many it skipped at the actual moment. There was no rational reason as to why so brief an encounter had had such a powerful impact on her, and for her to try to put it into words would be utterly impossible. It was something beyond a rational thought, even instinct would be insufficient to describe it. It was like some feeling of perfect recognition, or rightness, like the heaven's themselves had influenced her, just so she would recognize the sheer significance of that meeting.

She would've very much liked to learn more about that mystery figure, almost more so than any of the other mysteries she now face. Even now, she would've like to dwell on that feeling for just a bit longer, but her tranquility was soon shattered by an entirely unexpected presence.

"Hey you mangy hairball! Your hot water's run out before I could even draw a full bath!" Two pairs of eyes snapped open from their respective rests and shot to the doorway. Cake merely looked on in agitation, but Fionna's jaw completely dropped in shock at what she saw. Standing right there in the door of HER home was the villainous Ice Queen, wearing, of all things, a bathrobe, without even her signature tiara crowning her head.

"That's hardly my problem, Queenie. What do you even care? You're the ICE Queen! Don't tell me a little cold water really bothers you." Cake replied, cattily. Placing her hands on her hips, the Queen returned a scowl. "That doesn't excuse the fact that this trash heap you call a house can't even supply enough hot water for a day! A Queen shouldn't have to live like this!"

Cake could only roll her eyes. While earlier she may have outright snapped at the woman, after a few days she was quickly adapting to her ever-demanding attitude. "Well sorry for that, your HIGHNESS," She replied, drawing out 'highness' in an incredibly sarcastic slur. "But I've been a little busy with more important things. Since you probably haven't even noticed, Fionna's back." She mentioned, nudging her head back towards the young girl.

The Ice Queen paid her little more attention than a tacky ornament. "Absolutely wonderful." She said with no enthusiasm. "Just get the water heater working right. Otherwise, stay clear of my presence." And with a haughty spin, the Queen was off to her own devices.

Fionna's expression never changed throughout the exchange. Eventually she regained enough composure to cast a confused glance towards Cake, who had seemed disturbingly unperturbed this entire time. "I thought you said she wouldn't stay here?" Cake could only shrug her shoulders. "Yeah, but come one, it's the Ice Queen. Like anyone else was gonna let her stay with them."


	7. No Time for Rest

Chapter 7: No Time for Rest

Dim morning light filtered in through half-drawn shades, lending just enough visibility to the room to barely make out the furniture. Fionna sat on their couch, bleary eyed and slightly hazy. She'd awoken mere moments ago, far before all the other denizens of the Tree Fort. This did not occur without some struggle, as she was well aware there was still a tremendous fatigue racking her body, a rather stubborn holdover from her very interesting journey that'd she'd returned from the previous day.

However, while her body was still suffering from exhaustion, her mind was surprisingly clear. While she was still shaking off the slumber she'd just come from, and even though she still felt like she could catch a few more hours of rest, she couldn't keep her mind from dwelling on recent events, and more specifically what her next course of action had to be. She couldn't say why she'd awoken only barely after the sun had arisen, but as soon as she had she got a thought stuck in her head that she couldn't help but explore immediately, lest it slip her mind. So with some mild effort, she'd dragged herself out of bed, careful not to awaken the slumbering feline that she shared a room with, and had quietly made her way down to the main living room. She hadn't even bothered to change from her red pajamas.

Now situated on plush cushions and with an old quilt wrapped around her shoulders, she stared down at the device currently set upon her lap. It appeared to be a digital tablet of indiscriminate make, not exactly new or very aesthetically attractive, but far from old and beaten, it was about as plain as a computer could be. Well, there was one notable exception. There were absolutely no buttons, switches, or anything on the surface save for one odd ornament. On the top border of the plastic was a small decorative sword, with a straight blade and a skull on the pommel.

Fionna took the small nub between her fingers and turned her wrist, twisting the sword clockwise until it completely rested on its' side. The screen immediately lit up, the light a rather abrupt pain for the girl in the otherwise dim room, but her eyes quickly adjusted. As the device powered up a line of text appeared on the screen reading 'Enchiridion,' and was accompanied by an image of an old, eldritch looking book, the very same one that once bore the same name.

Indeed, the tablet that Fionna currently held was, in essence, a copy of the fabled hero's manual, the Enchiridion. When Prince Gumball had first gifted it to her she was completely baffled. After all, she herself was the one who destroyed the Enchiridion and turned it into a portal to Prismo's realm during one of her more tense battles with the Lich. That's why she didn't quite understand what the Prince meant when he first told her that he'd acquired a second copy of the book.

As it so happened, Gumball had managed, by some process far beyond the Human's understanding, to capture the data that had been contained within the book, and was then able to convert that data to a standard computer file. The tablet itself was nothing special, simply designed to be rather sturdy and hold a near limitless battery, but it contained a copy of the Enchiridion data. What this meant was that Fionna still retained access to all the knowledge that had been recorded in that ancient tome.

Unfortunately, although the Prince was able to preserve the data, there was no way to preserve the magic that was contained within the book. Since the book itself was obliterated any power that had been contained within was, at least far as Fionna knew, utterly gone for good. Of course, the only thing she really knew the book could do was open dimensional rifts. But just because she couldn't use any of the Enchiridion's magic did not mean that the tablet was useless. Far from it, in fact Fionna knew exactly how she could make use of the data.

After the book had finally loaded, a virtually flawless image of the leather cover filled the entirety of the tablet screen. By swiping her finger along the surface of the screen, Fionna could cycle through the 'pages' just as if she had the physical copy. But there wasn't any particular entry in the normal text that she was interested in. Instead, she swiped her finger from the top of the screen downwards, which brought out a menu containing several cartoonish icons. Although Gumball's technology could not recreate the magic, he was in fact able to capture the information that had been effectively locked in the book before Fionna released it with the gems.

Her eyes scanned the screen before settling on an icon in the shape of a generic treasure map. Tapping the image wiped away the remaining images on the screen, which then took on a dull orange hue. Knowing what would happen next, Fionna angled the screen away from her face, holding it flat on her lap. A few seconds later, a multitude of images were projected up into the air, right before her eyes. They consisted of various small dots and blobs, some easily recognizable and some utterly bizarre. What it actually was, was a map of the multiverse, a completely accurate representation of every known dimension in their spaces relative to one another. The map was oriented with her very own universe at the center, represented by the easily recognizable shape of planet with a massive chunk missing, like a bite from an apple.

With all the information that Fionna had gathered in recent days she had grown fairly confident that the Gray World, the place that the black holes had been sucking pieces of Ooo into, was in fact an entirely different dimension. And if she were right then she figured (or at least hoped) that she might be able to find some information on the Enchiridion map. Of course, it would be infinitely easier if she just had the original book to open a portal for her, but she would just have to make do. After all, even just getting a tiny bit of information on the place could tell her how get there on her own, or better yet how to cut it off from Ooo.

Of course, there was the slight problem of actually finding the blasted place on the map, since she had no clue what it would be represented by, or where it could possibly be located relative to her world, or even what the place's actual name was, and it was almost certainly not 'The Gray World.' Thinking for a minute, she remembered another feature on the map that might be of some help. Actually on the surface of the screen, in the corner, was a small circular icon of a strange creature's face. Fionna deftly pressed this.

Instantly, a red hologram of a small, pudgy man with a smaller tablet on his head appeared upright on the surface of the tablet. As soon as the figure appeared he began to speak at an incredibly rapid pace. "Hello my name is Helper and I'm an intelligent program designed to assist in the navigation, interpretation, and analysis of this digitized copy of the Enchiridion. What you are looking it is a three dimensional map of every known dimension in the multiverse. All dimensions exist in relative space centered on the dimension known as the Time Room where the extra-dimensional being known as Prismo resides. Although most dimensions are completely separate and distinct from one another some are permanently linked to other dimensions. Others can become temporarily linked by worm holes that occur naturally at random or by the use of powerful magical artifacts or beings. The book this data was retrieved from once held this power but due to the limitations of this digitized format no such portal can be created…"

The hologram had to take a moment to inhale several times. "…however thanks to the knowledge already contained within the Enchiridion and the ingenious input of Prince Bubblegum this map has been modified to contain all known relevant information available for each dimension. In addition each universe, being permanently fixed in inter-dimensional space, has been assigned a specific three-point coordinate based the relative location of the Time Room, centered at 0, 0, 0, as well as eight other dimensions that effectively shape the known multiverse as a cube. Should you require any further information on a specific universe or the multiverse as a whole you need only vocalize your question and I have been programmed to assist to the extent of this book's knowledge."

Finally the little figure fell quiet for good. Fionna rolled her eyes up and gave an annoyed 'ughhh.' To be sure the little program was undeniably helpful and had proven its merit to her on several occasions, and she was certainly thankful that the Prince had included such a handy little assistant in the code. But for whatever reason the Prince also made it so that Helper gave that same long-winded speech every single time she used the book, and that certainly got old fast.

But now that that ordeal was over with, it was time to see if she could possibly learn anything about her mystery universe. The only problem was she had absolutely no idea how to go about looking for this thing. It wasn't exactly like she had taken a road trip from her world to the Gray one, and there certainly weren't any roads or landmarks she could follow on the map. Not to mention that there was no way to tell which abstract configuration on the map corresponded to a land that could best be described as a blot.

But then, that was why that little tour guide had been included. "Helper, can you help me find a specific universe?" Fionna inquired quietly to the small hologram still standing on the screen. "Absolutely Miss! You need only tell me a valid name currently recognized in the database or provide the specific coordinates of the universe you wish to learn about." The small red figure hastily replied.

However, his explanation caused a look of uncertainty to cross Fionna's face. "Yeah… I don't really know either of those things. I've been calling it the, uh, the Gray World." Helper responded immediately in the exact manner that the girl had feared. "I'm sorry, but no dimension exists on record with that name. Please try a different one or provide me with the appropriate coordinates."

_'__Of course that wasn't gonna work. Like I really would've come up with the right name for that place.' _Fionna thought bitterly. How was she supposed to know anything about the dimension that she'd been trapped in? The whole reason she was sorting through this map was to find out that exact information. Mildly desperate, she attempted to describe the mystery realm to the hologram in the hope that it might somehow be able to draw a connection.

"Look I don't know the name or any kind of coordinates. But, it was just like a really empty world, and totally gray. There weren't any plants or animals, and for at least a little while it was linked with this universe. Come on, you have to get something out of that!" She pleaded with the translucent man. Unfortunately, the task of interpreting a description like this was beyond the capability of the program. "I'm sorry Miss, but a vague description is not sufficient for me to locate a specific universe. If you'd like to learn more, please provide me with a valid name or the appropriate coordinates."

In a huff of frustration Fionna made a motion like she was about to flip the small tablet clear across the room. She did just barely stop herself, settling for merely throwing her arms up in exasperation. She stared silently at the map in front of her for several long moments, wishing there was some way she could cause physical harm to a computer program. When nothing came to mind she settled for aggressively shutting off the device, roughly switching the sword back to its' vertical position. Instantly the backlight on the screen dimmed and the hologram map faded into thin air.

Now sitting alone in the still very dim room Fionna began to think on the position she now found herself on. She really didn't have any alternate options at the moment, if she was going to learn anything about this whole calamity she'd have to start with the Gray World, and if she was going to learn anything about that it would be from the Enchiridion. Boiling everything down seemed to leave her with only two options; either she figures out a way to find the Gray World in the map or she waits until another black hole opens up somewhere and hope for the best.

That's when a switch clicked on in Fionna's mind. She realized that the two options may in fact work better as a single goal. Her thoughts turned back to the "conversation" she'd had with the Ice Queen yesterday… or rather, several days ago, she supposed. In the midst of all the attitude and personal insults, the Queen did mention that it was possible to track teleportation spells using certain magical items. If she could just get a hold of something like that, she might be able to learn the location of the Gray World; and if she could somehow translate that to a coordinate on the map then she could find the information she needed!

Fionna stood up from the couch, smiling to herself. She had a plan of action, a clear goal, and a solid source to eventually tap. Things were finally starting to at least go a little bit smoothly for her. _'Right then. Today's agenda, a short trip to Witch City.'_ Now the only thing she had to wait on was for the other inhabitants of the fort to awaken, and then she'd be ready to tackle the real mysteries permeating the threat she faced. As she was deciding whether to go ahead and expedite that process herself, a low rumble sounded from within her own abdomen. _'Alright… breakfast first. Then we save the world.'_

* * *

Several hours later, Fionna found herself steadily approaching the hidden entrance to the central hub of all Ooo's magic users; Witch city. In tow, quite literally, was her faithful companion Cake. Coming upon the seemingly unremarkable stone wall, Cake felt the need to speak up from her far more inconspicuous position. "This had better work, cause if this falls through I swear I'm kicking that old hag to the curb."

But while the Cat seemed unreasonably anxious, Fionna acted much more reasonably. "Oh come on, why wouldn't it? Sure, the Ice Queen isn't exactly our best friend, but at least she usually tells the truth… when we bug her enough, anyway." Had Cake been in the proper form at the moment, she doubtless would've shot the girl an antagonizing look. However, with the state she was currently in that would prove impossible. "Yeesh, and here I thought you were the one that hated her more."

Fionna ignored that remark, more intent on the secret entrance they'd more or less reached. She pulled a recording device out of a green satchel she had slung around her shoulder, pressing the play button and holding it out in front of her. Secretly, despite her display of good faith she did feel some mild apprehension that the Queen's password wouldn't work, which would throw a significant monkey wrench into her plan. But she supposed she'd find out soon enough whether or not that was the case.

A short mechanical sound could be heard as the motor began to run and turn, pulling the audio tape into motion. Two voices could be heard on the recording, and though the sound quality was somewhat hindered they unmistakably belonged to both Fionna and the Ice Queen. "C'mon, just spill it… _I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, LEAVE ME BE YOU BRAT!..._ For Glob's sake, just tell me and I'll leave you alone… _Do you know the high council nearly had me executed the last time I let the password slip into non-magical hands? I'm not about to stick my neck out like that again, especially not for you!... _But I really, REALLY need it! C'mon… _Why won't you ever take NO for an answer!... _Oh just spit it out already. Come one!... C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, C'MOOOOOOOOOOON!... _AAAAGHHH, FINE ALREADY. IT's MORTALS DROOL, OKAY? MORTALS DROOL. NOW CEASE YOUR INCESSANT BUZZING YOU FLY AND GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" _An aggressive shuffling could then be heard on the other end of the tape, followed by the unmistakable sound of a door slamming in pure rage.

Regardless of all the other insanity cluttering the message, the magical barrier shielding Witch City had apparently recognized the correct phrase being said in the midst of the exchange. The previously solid looking cliff face began to shimmer away like a mirage before dissipating completely. Beyond the canyon lay the road leading to the city proper, an almost unassuming settlement that from a distance could've almost seemed like a perfectly normal large town.

It was when one actually entered the city, and was able to view its' inhabitants that they would be able to tell that it was no ordinary place. Simply walking the main road revealed some of the most colorful, intriguing and mysterious people in all of Ooo. Everywhere one turned, they could see someone performing magic, brewing strange concoctions, creating energy and objects from thin air, and performing all manner of fantastic and otherworldly actions. Despite that, every wizard and witch on the street went about their own business as if magic were the plainest thing in the world, which in their case was true. Aside from that, the city functioned as any other normal city on the continent. Shops and peddlers traded goods, police roamed the street looking for criminals to apprehend and citizens to protect, people walked, talked, worked, loved, and just lived out their lives.

But this was hardly anything new to Fionna, having experienced the city several times in the past. Although technically no non-magic users were allowed in the city, and she had technically been breaking the law every time she stepped foot in the city limits, there had been several occasions that necessitated her presence in the mystical enclave. All that was really required of her was to find the most current password and make up a suitable disguise, the latter of which was an almost insultingly simple matter.

So as Fionna was dressed now, no one was any the wiser as to her non-magical orientation. For her disguise this time, she had donned a very simple white cloak, a very common accessory for many mages who desired a plain but effective protection from the elements as well as prying eyes. Though she kept her trademark bunny-eared hood on, she also donned a large stereotypical pointed witch hat, purple in color, which concealed the garment. Being unable to carry her usual backpack along with her, she'd instead adopted a plain green satchel, nearly identical in color pattern to the backpack but different enough to discourage any link between the two; not that anyone would likely recognize her anyway, but she could never be too careful.

"Alright we're in. Just find somewhere to buy a trace or whatever it is you need and let's get home." Cake spoke up, incredibly impatiently. Having always been rather forgetful in nature, it was not until the two sisters were well along the path to Witch City before the Cat realized that she didn't have a disguise prepared. The option of simply riding in Fionna's satchel or under her hat or somewhere came up, but given a recent traumatic experience Cake was having some problems with claustrophobia. With neither sibling wanting terribly for the Human to have to go into the city alone, Fionna came up with what she considered a rather clever solution, very much to Cake's chagrin.

Walking down the main city street, Fionna pulled a sheet of paper from her side satchel. On it were several strange symbols, each of which had a description written next to it. Since Witch City used many runes and symbols not commonly known throughout Ooo in lieu of common text it was incredibly difficult for the uninitiated to navigate the streets. Throughout the years, during her visits and experiences with other magical beings Fionna had managed to decode a list of some of the more important or common symbols, and always kept a cheat sheet handy for when she snuck into the city.

Going down the list, she found the symbol to she was fairly sure corresponded to a shop for magical items. Memorizing the picture, she tucked the paper away and continued on her way down the street. It was not long at all before she came across a building with a sign depicting the same image. Pushing the door aside, she carefully made her way inside the store. The actually interior was quite barren for a shop, almost seeming more like a random home's living room. The only feature that would denote it as a retail establishment was the counter at the back of the room, which seemed to be the only place where there was any merchandise on display.

No sooner had Fionna taken two steps inside the store than she heard someone call out to her. "Ah! A customer, yes yes! Welcome, pleases don't be shy! Come, look and find something that catches your interest!" Her eyes immediately fell on the speaker, a peculiar looking woman standing behind the counter. Although fairly humanoid in proportion, the woman certainly didn't lack for the sort of strange qualities one would expect of any given citizen in Ooo. While the majority of her body was clothed in a bright red robe, her face was uncovered, revealing an unnaturally bright pink skin color. Framing her face was a curtain of long, curly hair, as red as the very robe she wore.

At the clerk's behest, Fionna did indeed approach the counter. Coming closer to the woman, several far more distinguishing features began to come to light. She noted that the woman's intensely pink skin seemed extensively cracked, but in a strangely uniform manner. She soon realized it wasn't skin at all, but a coat of scales covering the woman. She also notice the woman's bright yellow eyes, not possessing a usual round pupil but having a very narrow, vertical slit. Every few seconds a very thin, serpentine tongue would quickly dart out of the woman's mouth, adding to the overall air about the woman.

While the Human glanced over the shop keeper, she herself was doing much the same in appraising her customer. The young lady that had just entered her store seemed like a perfectly unremarkable young witch, if the hat were any indication. Almost too unremarkable, honestly. Absurd, though it was, the girl did not seem the type to stand out even in the midst of a city of spell casters. The only really odd thing about her semed to be the broomstick she was carrying with her, which did not appear as a normal broom made of wood and straw. Instead the instrument seemed like a single solid object, colored in an odd white and orange pattern. What's more the broom seemed almost… fuzzy?

Coming right up to the counter, Fionna turned her attention from the person attempting to sell her wares to the actual items that lined the counter and shelves along the back wall. All across the tabletop and shelves were a plethora of oddly shaped jars and vials containing potions and powders of all colors. Some contained other, more macabre elements suspended in fluid; animal parts, bones and bat wings, whole spiders and frog eyes. Among the very strange chemicals and concoctions were several other odd crafts. Totems, trinkets, and charms carved from many different materials. Really, this placed seemed to have at least a general collection of just about anything a half-decent witch would need to cast a spell or curse.

Of course, even having everything on display didn't really help Fionna in her goal, seeing as how she didn't even really know what exactly it was she needed. Taking this into consideration, she figured she'd just have to play things smoothly. "Yo, what up my fellow witch." Throwing a non-threating hand up. The shop owner merely gave her an odd look, and the girls hand slowly fell back to her side.

"Right, uhhh, well anyway…" She said, now very self-conscious, "I'm actually looking for, uhhh, I don't know really. I need… something that will let me track a teleportation spell." At the girl's request, the clerk seemed to let out a very light, almost demeaning laugh. "Oh, just a simple trace is all? Yeah we have those. Yeesh, you'd think that this was your first day being a witch." Even though the woman's accusation was completely in jest. Fionna couldn't help but let out a very nervous chuckle. This did not get past the owner, who now gave the girl a truly curious look.

Now very concerned over her cover, Fionna blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Well, truth be told I am, uhhh, kind of new to this." Raising an eyebrow, the clerk inquired further. "Really? So you've only recently been inducted into the magic world. That's very rare, I have to say." Just having those eerie yellow eyes stare her down was making Fionna feel incredibly uncomfortable.

The snake woman continued her third degree against the younger girl. "You know, most witch's I have in here always bring their familiar in with them, especially the new ones; you know, for supervision. Where's your familiar?" Fionna's mind was dangerously close to drawing a total blank, but a sudden twitch from the fuzzy object in her hand sudden gave her a brilliant idea.

The Human let out another laugh, this one sounding far less nervous but now very genuinely embarrassed. "Like I said, I'm really new. Thing is, I used to have a cat, and I used to have a broom. Then I kind of mixed up this spell and, well…" The girl briefly gestured with the oddly textured broom in her hand. "…like I said, I used to have a cat AND a broom."

At her explanation, the shop keeper couldn't help but release a raucous laugh. "Oh, wow, you really are green, aren't you?" Releasing a deep breath, the woman briefly turned away to the shelves behind her. She returned holding a couple of small objects in her hand, a relatively unassuming purple crustal with an odd yellow rune painted on one face and an even less conspicuous smooth stone, about the size of her palm, with an identical yellow rune painted on it. "Here," the woman said, handing the objects off to Fionna. "The crystal and stone are linked, so by leaving one of them somewhere and performing a very basic trace spell on the other one you can instantly find where the other is located. I'm assuming, of course, that your teacher will be able to teach you that spell; frankly I'm shocked she hasn't already done that."

Fionna let a gleeful smile cross her lips, and quickly deposited the two stones in her satchel. A terse cough brought her attention back to the serpentine woman, who was holding her hand out expectedly. "Oh, right. Sorry." Fionna said, embarrassedly. Reaching back into her satchel, she pulled a plain sack out and placed it in the clerk's waiting palm. The woman pulled open the sack and was a little shocked to see it filled to the brim with gold coins.

She gave Fionna a mildly concerned look. "Umm, this is way more than you need to pay." The girl just gave her an unconcerned shrug. "Ehh, keep the change." Fionna had never really needed to be overly cautious with her treasure, seeing as how she had a literal mountain of the stuff back home that she seldom used for anything. Now having no other business left to conduct, she gave a polite smile to the shop keeper and turned back towards the door.

"Wow, that was a lot easier than I expected." Fionna said aloud, quite obviously pleased with the turnout. "Yeah, a regular milk run. Now let's get out of here already, I hate having to hide my face when I'm in disguise." Cake responded, obviously still annoyed by her own personal predicament. Fionna smirked. "Well next time you can actually try to get ready on time and then you won't have to go as an accessory."

The bickering of the two sisters was abruptly interrupted as an alarm began to blare across the city. The two, along with everyone else on the street, instantly stopped in their tracks as some kind of announcement roared out over the alarm. "Attention, a volatile mass of dark energy has appeared within the confines of the city. All police and master witches are to make their way to the Central Square to contain the threat. All lower ranking witches are to either exit the city are move as close to the outer ring as possible." The voice died away but the alarm continued to pierce the air.

Before Fionna or Cake could process the situation, a group of imposing women wearing bandanas over their eyes stormed past them deeper into the city; the Witch City police force. As they marched towards the Square, the majority of the other magical beings on the street began to flee towards the city gate, with only a choice few following the officers towards the site of the disturbance.

It didn't take much longer than that for Fionna and Cake to figure out what was really happening in the city. "Cake…" the girl said grimly to the fuzzy stick she was still clutching. "I know." The Cat replied, equally dark. "Those witches won't know what they're dealing with. We've got to get there before anyone gets sucked in." Not really concerned with keeping up appearances any longer, Cake drew herself out of her sister's grip before assuming her usual shape. "Not to mention we've got to get that trace into the ball before it disappears again." A quick nod was the only response Fionna gave before she began sprinting after the police officers, with Cake soon picking up the slack after her.

Fionna absolutely knew that she would have to drop one of the stones in the black hole, but there was something else she'd been planning that she'd purposefully neglected to inform Cake of. The Human knew that at some point she would have to return to the Gray World, and figured that the longer she waited to return the more of Ooo would be ripped away. What's more, even though she'd been present for every appearance of the black hole so far she knew she couldn't count on her luck to last; if she didn't take the chance to jump back in now she might not get another opportunity for some time, and that wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

Of course, were Cake to find out about this she would doubtlessly object, if not outright try to stop her or, much worse, try to cross over with her. So as far as the Cat was concerned, they were only going to evacuate the people and track the portal.

Some minutes later, the two arrived, huffing and puffing, at the City Square. The situation already looked bad, and appeared to be growing worse by the second. The Square was a very large open area directly in the middle of the city, and now currently played host to the sinister black hole. The ball looked to have appeared directly in the center of the grounds, and was already the size of a tool shed, and growing.

A horde of police officers had surrounded the black hole, but didn't look to be doing much aside from observing. It seemed they'd already become aware of the ball's vacuum force, and were steeling themselves to resist the force. Among the throngs of officers where a few more colorful characters, presumably the high level witches, standing both in the crowd on the ground and hovering up in the air. Every few seconds one of them would fire a bolt of energy at the black hole, only for it to be completely absorbed like a drop of water in a sea of oil. Each time someone new took a shot, and each time with a different spell, but none of them seemed to be doing anything to even slow the ball's expansion.

Cake was the first to make the obvious observation. "No one here is going to be able to stop this. We've got to work on getting everyone away from the ball." Fionna nodded hastily. "You're right. We'll split up and start going around the crowd. Do everything you can to get these people to leave." Cake nodded and was about to take off when Fionna quickly grabbed her attention again. "Hang on Cake, you should take this." The Human quickly handed her the smooth stone with the rune.

Cake looked perplexed. "Why are you giving me one of these? Don't we have to keep one of these so we can track the other one?" Fionna nodded emphatically. "Exactly, that's why we'll each take one. Listen, I don't even want to try to get one of these things in there before we evacuate everyone and get them to stop shooting the dang thing. So you hang on to that one and I'll toss mine in the hole before it goes poof. I don't want to be holding both and accidently have them both get sucked up. Got it?"

Truth be told, Cake wasn't following her sister's train of thought. It seemed like a needless complication to the situation, but then again they were wasting time and they really needed to get out into the crowd now. So the Cat simply agreed, tucking her stone away safely and turning back into her half of the crowd.

Fionna sighed in relief as Cake broke off to try and warn the witches. She'd taken the bait, and now the girl would be able to enter the portal with the other crystal. She'd be on the inside, Cake would be safe on the outside and she'd be able to track her down. Everything had fallen into place. All that was left was to take the plunge.

Actually, there was still the matter of getting as many people to safety as she could, so she too began to wade her way into the crowd. Lacking any solid plan, Fionna's first instinct was to simply shout and try to get everyone's attention. Unfortunately, screaming into the crowd didn't seem to accomplish much at all, her voice more than drowned out amidst the roar of the black hole and the panic amongst the witches.

Having nearly moved to the other side of the square in her futile efforts, Fionna eventually gave up her pointless screaming. All the while she'd been trying to voice herself, the ball had been steadily growing, and the crowd was slowly creeping back. Looking to the other side, Fionna saw Cake was not having much more luck herself. The Cat had even formed a megaphone with her powers, but it seemed that the few individuals who could actually hear her were paying absolutely no attention. Eventually, the Cat too gave up and moved over to join her sister.

By the time they'd rejoined, the ball had grown to encompass almost half of the Square. "This isn't working! No one's listening to us and we can barely get over this noise!" Fionna exclaimed, practically having to shout to be heard of the commotion. "Well we're gonna have to think of something fast, or else the whole crowd's gonna get swallowed up!" Cake responded.

At her sister's exclamation, Fionna realized something strange about the situation. The ball had grown sufficiently large that it should have been creating a massive vacuum force by now, and although she could certainly feel the tug drawing her towards the abyss it was far from insurmountable, in fact she was having almost no trouble keeping upright.

"Something's wrong! The ball's growing but it's barely sucking us in!" Fionna voiced her observation to her sister. "Oh yeah! I'm pretty sure I saw a Wind Witch over there, she must be creating a counter force! If she weren't here than everyone would've probably gotten sucked in already, but I wouldn't count on that to last forever!" Cake shouted, pointing back towards the side that she'd just come from. Fionna followed her finger, and sure enough spotted a single figure levitating above the crowd towards the back. The Wind Witch looked incredibly thin, with blue skin and snow white hair. Frankly, she reminded the girl ever so slightly of the Ice Queen. The Wind Witch, however, wore a dress that looked like it was sewn from a cloud. She also appeared to be in an intense focus, likely in the midst of casting a spell.

An idea began to nudge at the corner of Fionna's mind. Cake had mentioned that the only reason the crowd was still here was that the Wind Witch was withholding the vacuum force of the black hole; so she wondered what would happen if the witch's spell were to fail. Obviously, suddenly releasing the spell would be disastrous, and almost certainly everyone present would be absorbed into the abyss. But what if the witch were to merely weaken the spell? Then maybe (hopefully) the vacuum force would become great enough that the police and other witches would have no choice but to run, but would not be so great as to keep everyone from escaping. Well, everyone except for Fionna, that is.

"Cake, I think I've got an idea. You think you can get that witch to ease up on her spell?" Fionna asked Cake. The Cat gave the girl an incredulous look upon her request. "You want me to what!? I thought the idea here was to get everyone here away from the ball WITHOUT being sucked in?! If that witch quits then there's no way anyone is gonna escape!" Cake's skepticism was understandable, so Fionna tried to elaborate. "No, listen. If things keep going like they are, then there's no way these witches will give up until they either seal the portal or get sucked in, and we both know they're not going to close it. So if we can just put a little more pressure on them, say by getting the Wind Witch to ease off the gas…" Cake's eyes gleamed as she caught on to her sister's plan. "…Then we can force the others to run away before it's too late!" She finished for the Human.

Nodding readily, Cake began planning on how exactly to convince the Wind Witch. "Alright, I'll tell cloudy over there to back off a little. But what are you gonna do in the meantime?" At her question, Fionna's hand went into her bag and removed the purple crystal, keeping a death grip on the stone. "I'm gonna get to a safe distance, and once the vacuum gets strong enough and the others start to leave I'll toss in my crystal. You just make sure you hold onto yours, no matter what."

Cake couldn't help but notice the faintest trace of some odd look in the girl's eye, something she couldn't place for the life of her. The Feline had a very odd nagging feeling just beginning to grow in the pit of her stomach, and Fionna's reasoning still seemed rather blatantly flawed. But again she decided that the immediate situation was too tense to waste time focusing on anything else. So she merely gave Fionna her parting words, "Alright suge, just be careful. Toss that crystal and then you get yourself as far away as possible. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can."

Fionna watched as her sister made her way over to the Wind Witch, stretching herself high to get on the woman's level, and then got into a very animated argument with her. The girl did feel some slight guilt for deceiving her sister, who would doubtless experience at least some trauma upon learning what she had actually intended to do, but she couldn't get over the simple feeling in her gut that told her she needed to return to the Gray World. So as the Cat attempted to coerce the Wind Witch, Fionna made her way to the back of the crowd. Perching herself behind a postal box, she braced herself for the inevitable increase of the vacuum force.

From her angle, the Human could now just barely make out her sister behind the still growing black ball, now encompassing nearly three-quarters of the square. It was not even a minute later that she began to feel the tell-tale tug increasing in strength. It was not a subtle shift either, as every witch in the crowd immediately noticed the pull on their bodies become much more forceful. Though a rather inappropriate gesture, Fionna couldn't restrain a small smile as her plan evidently began to fall into motion. The crowd of witches was slowly inching their way back towards the streets and alleys, obviously struggling but not finding the task impossible, just as the girl had hoped. They could clearly no longer contain the growing mass of energy, and they were well aware of this, so they would almost certainly be forced to retreat to the outer edge of the city very soon.

And sure enough, the ranks began to dissolve almost immediately. The first to go were the independent witches, most of which took off once they realized that the vacuum force was growing stronger. Finally, a threshold had been reached. The ranking officer present began to scream into the crowd, ordering everyone to run away to the city's edge. She didn't even have to finish her order before officers began to storm back into the streets and alleys in all directions, so long as it was away from the black hole.

Fionna watched in relief as the people around her took off towards safety, leaving only a few lingering witches still hovering around the edge of the Square, including the Wind Witch, and her sister perched on the roof of a building. The black ball had nearly grown to encompass the whole Square, and the barricade that Fionna was hiding behind was not but a few feet away from the edge of the shell.

Looking to her side, the Human could now just barely make out her sister past the mass of dark energy separating them. Cake was staring back at her, and for just a split second their eyes locked. Even from a distance, Fionna could see the panic-stricken look in the Cat's eyes, silently asking her why she hasn't yet moved away. Fionna's first thought was to try and offer some sort of reassurance, some way to convey what she was going to do and that she'd be okay, but she held herself. Whatever her best wishes, if Cake caught on than she would almost certainly follow her into the other dimension, and that was far too dangerous a situation to put the Cat into.

So for the time being, Fionna would just have to continue the narrative she had painted. In the few seconds that their gazes could still meet, she held up the crystal, first giving Cake a thumbs up to indicate their plan was still in action, and then made a gesture to the Cat, urging her to get away herself. The last thing Cake saw before the black hole completely blocked her sight was the girl tossing her crystal into the void and then immediately turning to sprint away.

But what Cake did not see was Fionna almost immediately stop once their line of sight had been broken. Instead, she turned back to face the void head on. The pull on her body was nearly strong enough to overcome her now, and she couldn't even be sure if the Wind Witch was offering any kind of resistance at this point. But her goal had been accomplished; Cake was making her escape under the assumption that she herself was doing the same, carrying her stone that could trace the crystal that'd just been lobbed into the hole. Now all that was left was to take the plunge.

She tried to remember what the experience was like, thinking back to the first time she'd fallen in at the Ice Queen's mountain, not long ago at all from her perspective. As she recalled, it was simply like blacking out, an experience so short she didn't even have time to feel terror, and this time she knew what to expect; better yet, she knew she would survive. But now there was no more time for hesitation, the black ball had nearly reached her by itself now. Thinking only to do what came naturally, Fionna closed her eyes, held her breath, and stepped forward, letting the black hole engulf her once again.


End file.
